


Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum

by ToaArcan



Series: Sonic: Revival [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic)
Genre: But some fluff too, Emerl is a girl because her soul was based on Maria's, F/F, F/M, Mainly because I forgot it existed when writing Arc 1, Post-Mecha Sally, Sonic rebuilt the world after Worlds Collide, The Tails Doll doesn't exist in this story, lots of angst to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-15 14:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18500557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToaArcan/pseuds/ToaArcan
Summary: As Sonic and co. close in on rescuing Mecha Sally, Nicole takes matters into her own hands, reviving an ancient superweapon to turn the tide against the machinations of Eggman and Naugus.





	1. Ignition

**Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum  
**   
Chapter 1 of 5: Ignition  
  
  
The digital plane was something of an escape, Nicole had decided. While she was in the computerised aether, the AI could disconnect herself from the outside city and enjoy some time to herself, something that was becoming more and more of a necessity lately.  
  
After his failures to protect the people, Naugus’ hand had been forced, and he had allowed the lynx to re-enter the city. Concerns raised by his more fervent supporters as to how he was supposed to protect them from her were dismissed- Her powers had no sway over him, and both of them knew it.  
  
Nicole tensed slightly, anger flaring inside her. She hated the hypocrisy of it all- Naugus had attempted to murder them all in the past, of his own choosing. The only bad things Nicole had ever done were while she was under the sway of another, and yet she was being blamed for it. Now she was the threat, and he was their protector.  
  
Separating herself from the city was a necessity, because occupying any of the nanites meant potentially overhearing another argument about her and the ‘King’, feeling one of Naugus’ more violent supporters try to damage her constructs, or listening to Mina’s awful song again.  
  
She bore no ill-will to the mongoose now. In fact, Mina had been trying to get the song taken off the air, but it was having no luck. Apparently, ‘We Won’t Be Afraid’ was the new favourite of the city’s population.  
  
  
Nicole retreated back into the void, curling up to relax. At times like this, all she wanted to do was confide in her closest friend… but that wasn’t an option open to her anymore. Sally was gone, taken from her, and everyone else, by Eggman’s latest maniacal scheme. She held out hope that it wasn’t permanent, that Sonic, Tails, and Amy would catch up to Mecha Sally and subdue her, allowing them to find a way to restore her body and mind, but as the days turned to weeks turned to months, she couldn’t help but feel that they might never see Sally again.  
  
She wasn’t the only one gone, either. Sonic and his team had taken off to rescue Sally, and Rotor was making an effort to defend the city almost by himself, with Naugus constantly taken ill. Elias had joined up with a smaller team that were quietly working to overthrow Naugus. But Antoine was rendered comatose, still slowly recovering from his injuries, though it was unclear when, if at all, he would wake up. Bunnie had taken off shortly after his injury, and where she was going, or why she left her friends in their darkest hour, were a mystery to the lynx. She wanted to be angry at the rabbit, she wanted to somehow find her and lay into her for leaving when everyone else needed her… but she knew that was unfair. Bunnie had always been the rock that everyone could rely on, and it wasn’t fair to expect that of her during the current situation. She was hurt too, after all.  
  
_Darkest hour…_  Why did that phrase resonate with her? She was never the most poetic soul, and she couldn’t recall any of her friends or allies using it… And yet, she definitely had some memory of it, but she had no idea how to reach it… Perhaps searching for it in her databanks would help...  
  
  
Her reverie was interrupted by a blinking light informing her that she had a new message incoming. She floated over to it, and tapped a knuckle against it, opening a video link and coming face-to-face with Amy. To her surprise, the hedgehog was genuinely smiling- The lynx was good enough at reading people to tell the difference between the forced, not-quite-reaching-the-eyes smile she had worn before leaving with the others, and the genuine look of happiness and relief she had now. From her surroundings, she appeared to be in the back seat of the Tornado, and she was wearing a thick winter coat.  
  
“Hello, Amy,” Nicole smiled half-heartedly. “You’re looking pleased with something.”  
  
“We did it!” She announced.  
  
“I’m sorry, did what?”  
  
“We saved Sally!” She clarified. Nicole brightened immediately, shifting closer to the screen.  
  
“Wait, really?”  
  
“Yeah. I mean, technically we just knocked her out so you can zap into her computer-brain and undo whatever Eggman did to her, but the hard part’s over!”  
  
“Oh my gods, that’s wonderful!” Nicole beamed. “Please, hurry back!”  
  
“Well, we were actually hoping you could send yourself over and do it in-flight,” Amy said. “We’re not sure how long she’s going to be out and if she wakes up in transit we could be in trouble.”  
  
“I’m afraid my long-range connections have been deactivated by Naugus…” Nicole let out a sigh. “But the Tornado is one of the fastest planes around.”  
  
“That’s true, in jet mode,” Tails’ voice cut in from somewhere in front of Amy’s seat. “Unfortunately we’re in biplane mode, and we can’t transform it right now. We had to put Mecha Sally in the cargo hold.”  
  
“Oh, I see…” Nicole paused. “What’s your ETA?”  
  
“About two hours,” Amy said, looking less happy now. “So we should be okay, but it might be bad.”  
  
The two friends’ conversation was interrupted from a loud clang somewhere below Amy. Her eyes went wide, as she glanced down on instinct, then laughed nervously and looked back to the lynx. “I… may have just jinxed it.”  
  
“Oh no…”  
  
“It’s alright, we should be able to subdue her again, Silver’s here too, it’s just… this isn’t a good position for her to wake up in,” Amy continued, as another clang sounded. A few more ominous sounds of the Tornado’s titanium frame taking a beating from inside, before the sound of tearing metal alerted them both to the cargo doors being torn from their mountings.  
  
“Amy, is she loose?” Nicole slammed her hands against either side of the screen, panic rising.  
  
“Yes, she is, but it’s okay, Silver’s-”  
  
“Missile lock!” Tails shouted. “We’ve got Eggman on our tail!”  
  
“Amy, Tails!” Nicole screamed.  
  
“It’s alright, we’ll be okay!” Amy said, already drawing her hammer. “Tails is taking us down, we’ll be-”  
  
  
The link went dead, and Nicole backed away, curling up again. It wasn’t fair! They were so close to getting her back, but now Eggman was going to sweep their feet from under them again, if they even survived the crash landing. Her friends were alone, somewhere cold and dangerous, and she couldn’t help them thanks to Naugus.  
  
_`One result found!`_  
  
Nicole looked up again. Her memory bank search had born fruit. She looked at the single result, a text file with no preview. Odd… and highly suspect. She subjected it to every sort of security scan she could think of, but there didn’t seem to be anything actually untoward about it. It even had Rotor’s signature on it.  
  
Shrugging, she opened the file, and found what looked to be an old Brain Trust memo, with some sparse text on it.  
  
  
`Knothole, under the lab. The codeword is ‘Ignite’. Use only when there is no other choice.`  
  
Under the lab? There was something below Tails and Rotor’s workshop this whole time? Would it perhaps have survived the destruction of the old city?  She certainly didn’t recall that… Still, she wasn’t as omnipresent back in those days, so it could’ve slipped her notice…  
  
If Eggman was focusing on recovering Mecha Sally, he probably didn’t have any attacks on the city lined up. He was the sort to generally fixate on a single goal, especially if it was something taking whatever he’d claimed as his own- Just thinking of Sally in that context made the AI nauseous, but Eggman’s fixation gave her all the room to investigate this… maybe it was something that could allow her to help…  
  
  
Nicole quickly transferred herself over to the computer in Freedom HQ, hologram taking full form in the main room. She floated from the domed building and made her way over to the site of the old lab. With a wave of her hand, a small telekinetic pulse rippled the dust and rubble away.   
  
There, beneath the surface layer, was a heavy iron door, with a keypad beside it. She leaned down, inspecting the controls themselves. They seemed to still be working, fortuitously.  
  
`I-G-N-I-T-E`  
  
Long-abandoned engines groaned into life, servos straining as the door began to lift up, hydraulics whining all the way. Stairs extended down into the dark depths, but her own body lit the way for her as she descended into the hidden chamber. At the bottom, she found a small corridor, leading up to a sliding door with a camera above it and a screen either side.  
  
As she approached, the camera angled toward her, and the left screen popped into life.  
  
  
Today had largely been full of things she didn’t expect. She didn’t expect to hear that Sonic’s team had captured Mecha Sally. She didn’t expect to hear that Silver was with them. She didn’t expect to find a hidden file in her system. She didn’t expect said file to lead her to a secret room underneath the remains of the lab in her old home. And, adding another to the list, she wasn’t expecting to see Fiona Fox’s face looking back at her from the screen.  
  
Instinctively, her response was to prepare for some form of attack on the other side of the door, but she noticed that the vixen appeared to be standing in the same lab that she had just passed through the rubble of, wearing her old yellow and white outfit, and her expression was calm and neutral, rather than the ridiculous forced grin she normally wore now.  
  
“ _Hey Nicole,_ ” The recording spoke. “ _If you’re watching this, then either someone’s brought you down here or Tails’ predictions for your development were accurate and you’re now moving on your own. Oh, also, something’s going really, really wrong and we need a new big gun._ ”  
  
The recording went to static for a moment, before clearing up again.  
  
“ _If you’ve entered the “Ignite” code then the lab’s systems should be preparing what we have locked up here. Tails, Rotor, Chuck, Tommy and I have been working on it for a while now, trying to make it safe to use, but… we haven’t had much luck, and experience with these things tells me that we can’t wing it with this one. I mean, if it doesn’t work, it’ll take all of Sonic, or Tails, or Knuckles’ power to subdue it. Probably._ ”  
  
More static, and a clear image again.  
  
“ _Basically, if you’re looking at releasing it, well, only do it if it can’t really make it any worse. I call it the ‘Darkest Hour Protocol’. This little guy-_ ” Fiona’s arm reached out of the frame and dragged Tails into view. The smaller fox looked as though his brain had stopped working at the contact, and Nicole couldn’t tell whether Fiona was aware or not. “ _\- thinks I’m being cynical and maudlin, but I don’t see him or Rote coming up with anything better, do I?_ ”  
  
“ _W-well… no._ ” Tails sighed.   
  
“ _Exactly! So yeah, please be careful with this, Nicole. Of all of us, I know you’re the one we can all count on to do the right thing with this power. If you need it for real, the second password is ‘Awaken’._ ”  
  
The recording cut off, the screen going dark as Nicole approached the door. Her fingers brushed against the keypad, pausing for a moment. Fiona’s warning seemed more than dire. Whatever was on the other side of this door could potentially win them the fight, or it could make things even harder for them. The fact that this had been hidden from her, the key buried in her code made her suspicious…  
  
No. She couldn’t sit around and wish she could help her friends, and then pass up the potential opportunity. If it was something that the Brain Trust had worked on, it was probably a machine anyway, so if it couldn’t help, she could shut it down.   
  
`A-W-A-K-E-N`  
  
The door slid open with a pneumatic hiss, the room on the other side lighting up. Heading inside, the first thing she encountered was what appeared to be a Chaos Emerald, though the glow was much fainter than normal, resting on a small stand.  
  
“Tails’ synthetic Emerald… So this is where it ended up…”  
  
Behind it, against the back wall, was what appeared to be a metal casket, lined with faint blue lights. She walked over to it, laying her hand on the top. To her shock, the box hummed into life, a glowing blue circle lighting up around her hand, lines spreading out from it, covering the whole piece. The top split down the middle, and with a rumble, began to open. Nicole jumped back, as a mechanical arm lowered from the ceiling, grabbing the Emerald from where it stood. It slid over to the casket, lowering the Emerald into it.  
  
Nicole rushed back over, watching a claw extend from inside, grasping the Emerald, then retracting back down. The gemstone descended into what appeared to be a socket made to fit it, a ring of metal plates closing in to mostly cover it, lines of warm yellow light spreading from it like arteries, filling out the shape of a Mobian figure, roughly the same size as her hologram.  
  
What looked almost like a metallic liquid spread up from around the metal skeleton’s feet, forming the shape of armoured plating- Thick, bulky, and rounded. At the same time, more pieces of the endoskeleton rotated and clicked into place around the robot’s chest, forming a rounded shape with a hole in the centre, through which Nicole could see the faint glow of the Emerald beneath it.  
  
A faint mote of energy floated up into the empty chest cavity, and for a moment, it hung there, unmoving, before it flickered, sparked, began to grow, first to a small flame, then rapidly turning into a raging inferno of Chaos within the new machine’s heart. The spreading metal formed the two halves of a chestplate, then closed down over it, the blazing core only visible through a trio of circles in the centre of the plate.  
  
Above it, two optic sensors lit up, bright yellow with a tiny, almost-white pupil in the centre, before a third opened in the centre of the forehead. The trio of beady eyes focused on her for a second, before golden fire erupted from within the casket, throwing her back once again. The figure all but rolled out of the casket, perching on edge in a crouched position. Its eyes scanned across the room for a moment, before it stood and launched itself upwards, straight through the ceiling, on a tower of blue flame.  
  
“Oh dear…” Nicole murmured.  
  
Phasing through the now-crumbling ceiling, she spotted the robot hovering above her head. In the daylight, she was able to see it more clearly. Most of the plating on its body was a light sandy colour, with bronze on its shoulders, knees, the soles of its heavy, boot-like feet, and the distinctive single-pointed crest extending from its forehead. Burnished brown covered its upper arms, thighs, hands, and narrow midsection.  
  
It seemed to sense her presence, as it it whirled to face her and immediately raced back down toward her. She phased back from the strike, which split the earth where she had been standing just moments before, and floated herself upwards.  
  
Whatever this robot was, it had gone berserk within seconds of waking up, and Nicole quickly found herself regretting her decision to ignore Fiona’s warning. Out here, her processing power was limited, and if it happened to destroy the headquarters in its rampage, she would lose connection entirely.  
  
As the robot recovered from its slam, it locked onto her, staring for a moment.  
  
“Δείξε μου τη δύναμή σου. Ή δεν θα υπακούω. Εκπροσωπώ όλα τα πράγματα και θα γίνω Γκισοειδής, ο κατακτητής όλων …”  The voice came from the machine’s head, somewhere behind the mouthplate on its face. The tone was softer than she expected, not a harsh, grating screech, or a monotonous drone, but much more lifelike, almost like that of a young woman. The language itself wasn’t one currently in use… but Nicole did recognise it.  
  
It angled up toward her and fired its thrusters again, launching itself up toward her, fist drawing back as Chaos flared around it. Nicole braced, holding her hand forward, a square barrier of light forming between the two of them. The robot’s fist smashed through the shield, continuing to race upward, until it stopped dead, its punch slamming uselessly into a wall of telekinetic force. For a moment, its engines strained against the psychic barrier, while Nicole held firm, feeding as much power into it as she could.  
  
She spotted the droid’s third optic focusing on her for a moment, before its engines began to wind down. It jetted back slightly, circling slowly as its eye continued to scan her. Then, its pinprick pupils widened, growing to normal size. Its eyes turned blue, as did the glow from the circles on its chest. The central eye snapped shut at the same time.  
  
“Ποιος είσαι?”  
  
Nicole paused for a moment, as her systems processed the two samples of language from the robot.   
  
“Hm… Nocturnian?” She mused, quickly translating the original speech it had sent her. It had asked her who she was.  
  
‘` _Show me your power. Or I shall not obey. I represent all things, and shall become Gizoid, the conqueror of all..._`’ So, that was what Fiona meant… This thing was powerful, and without something else powerful to match it, it would be uncontrollable. Luckily, it seemed her psionic abilities were enough to qualify. Still, she’d have to be careful with this...  
  
Nicole turned to face the robot again, now speaking in its own tongue. “< I am Nicole. I am a Freedom Fighter. Some of my friends found you and gave me the keys to awaken you. >”  
  
“<They shouldn’t have done that,>” The robot replied. “<And you shouldn’t have let me out.>”  
  
The robot’s inflections weren’t easy to understand in such an old language, but it didn’t take much to pick up on the melancholy in its words. Immediately, Nicole’s wariness eased a little. Clearly the bot was aware of how much of a gamble she was taking by awakening it, and it seemed to feel… shame? Fear? Apprehension? She floated closer to the hovering figure, smiling as disarmingly as possible.  
  
“<Why?>”  
  
“<I… I don’t remember. My memory banks appear to be damaged. Oh. But I do remember how much power I have… and how bad it would be if that got out…>”  
  
“<Well… I have a lot of power too,” Nicole said. “And if that were turned loose against the world, it would be nigh-unstoppable… But… someone very important to me taught me that I can be more than that power. I don’t have to shy away from it for fear of what it could do, especially not if I can use it to help others instead…>”  
  
“<I… never thought of it like that…>” The robot admitted, tilting its head as it looked at her. “<Thank you.>”  
  
“<You’re welcome.>” She smiled, putting her hand on the bot’s shoulder. To her surprise, the third eye opened again, and a static charge rippled between her fingers and the plating. “Ow! I didn’t think holograms could get static shocks…”  
  
“You’re a hologram?” The robot asked. Nicole paused for a second, and realised that it had spoken in North Mercian, rather than Nocturnian. Well, ‘it’ didn’t seem appropriate now. In the more familiar dialect, the robot was clearly speaking with a woman’s voice.  
  
“You can speak North Mercian?”  
  
“Is that what this language is? I think I just absorbed it from you,” She shrugged, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. “That was probably what shocked you, so, sorry about that.”  
  
“You… ‘absorbed’ it?”  
  
“Yes, that’s what my power is. That’s why I’m so dangerous, I think. Anything I see, if my brain can comprehend it, I can replicate it. Languages, weapons, powers, the works,” She explained. “But yeah, you’re a hologram?”  
  
“This body is. I am an artificial intelligence program. The hologram is how I interact with the world around me.”  
  
“That’s actually really cool.” The robot beamed, or at least Nicole assumed she was smiling from her tone of voice.   
  
“Thank you,” Nicole smiled. “Do you remember your name?”  
  
“Uh… It’s… um…” The robot paused for a moment, then looked back up at her. “My name is Emerl.”  
  
“Emerl? Well, it’s nice to meet you, Emerl.”  
  
“Thanks, it’s nice to meet you as well,” Emerl nodded. “So, why did you wake me up, then?”  
  
  
Nicole’s face fell, and she looked away from her new friend.  
  
“I’m sorry to spring this on you, so soon after you’ve awakened, but I was told not to activate you unless we found ourselves in a crisis… and we’re in a crisis.”  
  
“What sort of crisis? Hopefully one where punching things real hard can fix it, otherwise I don’t think I’ll be much help,” Emerl sighed. Nicole laughed slightly, and shook her head a little.  
  
“Well, I think it might come in handy… My friends, the Freedom Fighters… we’re the primary opposition to a madman named Doctor Eggman…”  
  
“Uh, ‘Egg Man?’ Does that combination of words have a different meaning on this language, or does it still effectively mean  _Αυγό άνθρωπος?_ ”  
  
“It really does mean that. We’re not sure why he calls himself that either,” Nicole shrugged. “In any case, Eggman leads a small Empire of his own, and he has made it his ambition to take over the entire planet and convert everyone on it into a mechanical slave that only exists to follow his orders and massage his fragile ego. Normally, his attacks are fairly inept, but occasionally he manages to hit us just right... “  
  
“He transformed our leader, Princess Sally, into a robot slave and then weaponised her body to make her into a combat droid. Shortly after that, two more of us fell in battle… And now three more of us have gone to try and rescue Sally. They were successful, but something took down their plane and Mecha Sally woke up, so now they’re stranded somewhere north of here and they’re in danger… and I can’t do anything to help them.”  
  
“Okay, that sounds like a pretty huge crisis…”   
  
“That’s not even the entire problem… but, it is the most pressing concern right now. The plane went down about half an hour ago by now… And I’ve been working to position their exact location all this time… I think I’ve got it, but I don’t know how long they’ve got…”  
  
“Well, you’re in luck,” Emerl said. “I happen to be pretty fast, and I also have a vacant storage slot for an AI in my head. I think it’s for recovery purposes… but I’m not sure what I’d be recovering. Anyway, it’s there for you. If you guide me, we can rescue your friends.”  
  
“Really?!” Nicole gasped, hugging the robot. “Thank you!”  
  
“Not a problem, Nicole.”


	2. Partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With her new ally secured, Nicole rushes to the northern ice cap to aid her friends, but Eggman isn't willing to let Mecha Sally go without a fight...

**Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum  
**   
Chapter 2 of 5: Partners  
  
  
Sonic skidded over the snowy ground, dodging another swipe from Mecha Sally’s blades, ducking into a roll to escape the blast from her head laser.  
  
“Silver, little help?!” He called out, backpedalling from his opponent.  
  
“Kinda busy here!” Silver shouted back, catching a barrage of missiles and hurling them back toward their source- The hulking, heavily armoured mech that barrelled toward the wreckage of the Tornado, swinging an equally massive maul down at the three Mobians ahead of it.  
  
The mech’s shield came up with unnatural speed, the missiles exploding against it harmlessly, and the trio scattered. Laughter sounded from the armoured cockpit, another barrage of missiles shooting skyward before arcing down toward the group.  
  
“Did you really think it would be that easy? That I would just let you walk away with my new favourite toy? Well, consider this your rude awakening!” Eggman grinned.  
  
Sonic gritted his teeth, wanting to bite back, to tear into Eggman for daring to refer to Sally that way, but he couldn’t take his attention away from the Robian for a moment, lest she skewer him on one of those blades. He was down to his last nerve. They had won. They’d saved her. They’d destroyed Eggman’s defences, defeated Mecha Sally, and evacuated the base. They’d bid their farewells to the Arctic Freedom Fighters, and climbed aboard the Tornado. They were home free.  
  
  
Then Eggman reactivated Mecha Sally and shot them from the sky with another of his blasted Egg Beaters.  
  
  
Now they were trapped in the middle of the icy tundra, caught between two opponents, both in full form while all four of the Freedom Fighters were tired. Silver was in the best shape of them all, but he still had to focus on evasion and defence, which wasn’t an easy task.  
  
There was nowhere to run. Even if they could’ve retreated, they would lose Sally again, perhaps this time for good. They had to fight, but they were running on empty. Worse, Mecha Sally seemed to be performing better in the freezing temperatures than she had anywhere else. He couldn’t tell if he was being hindered by the cold, or if he’d made another upgrade since their last fight.  
  
Eggman swung the maul down again, only for it to be enveloped in a teal glow, stopping dead. Silver buckled under the strain, growling as he forced himself to stand again.  
  
“Guys, now!” He shouted.  
  
“Right!” Amy called back, Eggman turning his cockpit to focus on her. The hedgehog was clinging to Tails as the fox dove toward him. He shifted, hurling her straight for Eggman, hammer forming in her grip. “Alright, let me show you what a real hammer looks like!”  
  
The shield snapped into place again, Amy’s weapon clanging dully against it, causing the mad dictator to laugh again. “Well, show me! I’m waiting!”  
  
“Gotcha!” She smirked. Eggman’s laughter stopped for a moment, as, with both arms occupied, Tails zipped past them, spinning into the cockpit itself. The robot stumbled back, knocked off-balance, with a crack spreading across the visor. Amy was thrown loose, allowing Tails to catch her and set her down. “That worked!”  
  
“Yeah, but he won’t fall for it again… That thing’s fast enough to counter Sonic, and it looks like he’s upgraded his targeting systems so we can’t overwhelm him with numbers again.” Tails replied. “It’s tough too. Hitting it wasn’t exactly painless.”  
  
“I’m starting to run low on energy too…” Silver added. “We need to find a way to end this, and fast…”  
  
  
“` **New target inbound.**`” Mecha Sally droned. “` **Airspeed: Approximately Mach 2.5. Distance: Ten kilometres and closing.**`”  
  
“A-ha, that will be Metal Sonic, back from his little mission!” Eggman grinned. “Another Freedom Fighter falls…”  
  
“` **Target does not match Metal Sonic’s signal. Warning: Large spike in Chaos Energy detected.**`”  
  
“Eh?” Eggman turned his machine’s scanners toward the source of the signal, the Freedom Fighters taking the moment’s distraction to regroup.  
  
“` **Target is decelerating. Switching to attack vector.**`”  
  
  
A flash of bronze, followed by the roar of engines and a cacophonous sonic boom, tore through the battleground. The pillar of fire and smoke speared between Eggman and Mecha Sally, arcing upward into a loop. The engines cut as it reached the apex, the figure slamming back into ground, kicking up a cloud of snow. Blue optics shone balefully from the mist, as the newcomer rose from its kneeling position and stepped into the light.  
  
“Okay…” Emerl slammed her fist into her open palm, rolling her neck back and forth as Nicole’s avatar flickered over her right shoulder. “Who’s first?”  
  
“Nicole?” Sonic ventured.  
  
“Hello, Sonic. Tails, Amy, Silver, good to see you all again.” She smiled back at them.  
  
“What’s going on? What’s with that robot?” Amy asked, bracing herself against her hammer.  
  
“Tails and I will explain later.” Nicole replied. “For now, this is my new friend, Emerl.”  
  
“Hey everyone.” Emerl called out, still focused on Mecha Sally.  
  
“Tails?” Sonic and Amy both turned to look at the fox, who in turn appeared to want to be anywhere but here.   
  
“Uh, it was a secret project from the old Brain Trust days. We elected to lock it up unless it was really, really needed… It’s performing well, though….”  
  
  
“` **Priority Five. Unit: NICOLE. You have activated the Gizoid unit?**`” If it was possible for a Robian to sound perplexed, Mecha Sally did. She kept her weapons trained on the new arrival, but her optics had locked on to the small avatar hovering near her.  
  
“Yes. And Sally, if the real you can hear me in there, then don’t worry. We’re going to get you out.”  
  
“` **This unit finds that… unlikely.**`”   
  
“Wow…” Emerl paused. While the Robian and the AI had conversed, her third optic had been scanning every detail of her newest opponent. “Just… wow.”  
  
“Haha, it looks like even your new weapon appreciates my genius!” Eggman laughed.  
  
“Emerl, this isn’t really the time to start being impressed with Eggman’s work…” Nicole frowned.  
  
“No, no, I’m impressed because this is easily the worst possible combat robot design ever.”   
  
“ **What?!** ” Six voices shouted at once.  
  
  
“Well, just look at it.” Emerl waved her hand, a hologram of Mecha Sally’s design appearing beside her. Another gesture and the hologram exploded, individual pieces spreading apart from each other. “All those weapons and armour are far too heavy for those servos to use properly. This frame is designed for speed and dexterity, but the robot itself has been built as a walking tank. It doesn’t even need most of these, it would legitimately be fine with one pair of guns and one pair of swords. Hell, with this many weapons it must struggle to power them all, I bet these weapons are actually weaker than they would be if they were fewer in number. And- Is that a gun in her cranium? Why? Just…  _why?_ ”  
  
All eyes were on Emerl, slightly incredulous at her sudden outburst. Eggman seemed to recover the fastest.  
  
“If you’re quite done insulting my work… Mecha Sally, kill her.” He grumbled.  
  
“` **Yes Master.**`” She droned, stepping forward to swing her blade down toward Emerl’s head. The Gizoid sidestepped the swipe, arching her back away from a thrust, palmed aside her other arm, before raising her hand to meet the oncoming chop. With a loud clash, the energy sword met her left palm, and stopped in its tracks. Mecha Sally strained, trying to force the weapon down, but Emerl held firm.  
  
“Power issues? Called it,” She taunted. “Nicole, now!”  
  
“Right, right,” The AI nodded, flickering out as she beamed herself toward the Robian, only to bounce back. “Hng.. something’s blocking me out. Shielding her systems.”  
  
“Foolish little Freedom Fighter!” Eggman jeered. “Even you cannot get past Mecha Sally’s Power Ring Matrix!”  
  
“Thanks for telling us, genius!” Emerl tensed her fingers, and shattered the energy blade in her hand, shards falling away like glass. “That would be the backpack part, right? Wow, an external power unit on a combat droid, that just makes this worse.”  
  
“Her core should be in her chest.” Nicole corrected, tilting her head quizzically at Emerl’s hologram. “Wait.”  
  
“Only thing in the chest cavity is a self-destruct bomb, which just seems like the wrong way round to do things… Wait a second… oh σκατά.”  
  
“What the hell did you do!?” Sonic snarled, charging toward Eggman’s mech, only to bounce off the shield again.  
  
“I wouldn’t advise doing that, hedgehog.” Eggman laughed. “You see, after Mecha Sally’s near misses I decided to make sure that she could never be returned to your side. After all, a Robian core is a very powerful battery. Why, your father has kept on working without needing it replaced for well over twelve years now! The Princess’ core could run her body for decades… or it could run one, much larger robot for, oh, I’d say a few months? Like this one! And there’s my master-stroke in this, Freedom Fighters! You destroy my Egg Beater, and you will lose your precious Princess’ beating heart in the same blow!”  
  
Emerl’s attention shifted from the confrontation between the eternal enemies, as Mecha Sally hadn’t paused with the rest of them. Her remaining sword clashed dully against her plating. She backstepped, rolling around her slow swings, trying to reach her backplate. Her body pivoted at the waist, head opening up to expose the barrel of the gun hidden there, a pulse of energy thudding into the Gizoid’s face, knocking her head back for a moment.  
  
“Nicole, I know this is awful, but I need you to focus. I think we can fix this, I just need to get that power ring out,” Emerl rolled back, crouching low.  
  
“He… he tore her apart…” Nicole murmured, her avatar shimmering over her shoulder.  
  
“I know, I know, but we can turn this around. I’ve got a plan. Trust me, please,” She pleaded, dodging more shots from the Robian.  
  
“Right, right…. I can do this.  _We_  can do this,” Nicole shook her head, her image solidifying. “Sync?”  
  
“Sync!” Emerl burst forward, feeling the AI speeding up her reaction times again. “These cannon shots are weak as hell, but I think I’ve got a use for them…”  
  
Her crest popped up, an identical cannon emerging from within, blasting into the ground at Mecha Sally’s feet, kicking up a cloud of snow. The wall of cold obscuring her heat sensors, the snow itself blocking her line of sight, the Robian was unable to see Emerl rolling around and slamming into her back.  
  
“Oh my gods this thing has an ‘Open’ button!” Emerl groaned, opening the Ring Matrix and tearing the golden ring free, letting it slip through her fingers and slide down her arm until it rested in the crook of her elbow. Mecha Sally froze, then fell limp in the Gizoid’s arms. “Alright, I’m going to give her a charge to keep her alive, but it’ll let you get in there and free her. Unfortunately, it will probably charge her up a little, so the others are going to have a fight on their hands…”  
  
“The others? What about you?” Nicole asked.  
  
“I’m gonna take out the big bot. It’s predicting them, but that morbidly obese monster hasn’t got a clue about me.” Emerl glanced over, spotting the others dodging away from Eggman’s missile strikes, barely able to strike back.   
  
“But what about Sally’s core?!”  
  
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Just hop into Sally’s systems and do what you can about that programming!”  
  
“Alright… Good luck,” She said, disappearing into the Robian’s systems.  
  
“You too…” Emerl nodded. With a pulse, an ember of golden Chaos energy ignited in the open Ring Matrix, before the Robian shuddered back to life and began to spasm, the new power flooding through her system, and a whole extra consciousness cramming itself into her already-limited processor.  
  
Emerl stepped back, looking up at the Egg Beater, swinging its hammer down toward the Freedom Fighters. The thrusters on her back warmed up, as she flicked the Power Ring back into her grip, clenching her fingers around it. She felt its remaining energies flow into her own core, enveloping her in gold, all three eyes burning with the same unearthly light. Her rockets fired, and she launched herself into the air, driving herself upwards and toward her quarry.  
  
  
Sonic’s last nerve was gone. Whatever shred of composure he had left had been torn apart when Eggman’s newest atrocity had been revealed. He slammed his body against the shield, still bouncing off without really denting it. If he’d just had his energy, he could’ve focused his fury into the power needed to pull Eggman out of his robot and make him pay for what he’d done.  
  
The Egg Beater shuddered as the newcomer robot slammed into the shield, engines roaring as she pushed against it.  
  
“I got Nicole into Mecha Sally’s systems, and I’m gonna extract the core from this mess of a mech, but I may have had to juice Sally up to keep her alive. Could you guys keep her off my back? Just long enough for Nicole to do her work!” Emerl shouted down to him. Sonic looked up at her, rage clearing for a moment, before spotting Mecha Sally charging toward her back.  
  
Seizing the chance, he leapt into the air, crashing into Mecha Sally, grabbing her and rolling over, sending both of them into a spin. Tearing herself free, Mecha Sally lashed out with her remaining sword, missing Sonic by a hair as he thrust his hands against her shoulder plates, boosting himself downward, both of them falling into the snow. She recovered faster, flipping a cannon out of her newly-swordless arm, aiming at Sonic as he began to pick himself up.  
  
Fortunately, a teal glow seized her arm, wrenching it away from Sonic, as Tails and Amy landed in front of him, giving him the room to stand.  
  
“I think we can handle this, right guys?” Sonic allowed himself a small smile. “After all, there’s nowhere left for her to run, and we just have to stall for time.”  
  
“` **Get out…**`” Mecha Sally growled, clanking her first against the side of her head, as her cannon fired at Silver. He blocked the blast with a wall of telekinetic force, but it was enough to release his grip on her, allowing her to charge the group again.  
  
  
“You’re becoming quite the pest,” Eggman growled, glaring at Emerl through his cockpit glass, as both missile pods locked onto her. “But know this, you  _won’t_  win this battle and save the Princess. You can do one or the other, but you can’t win without killing her.”  
  
“Eh, I’ll wing it,” She shrugged. Eggman growled and slammed his fist against the controls, grinning as he listened to the sound of the missile pods releasing an entire salvo in a single moment. “Wuh-oh.”  
  
Emerl flipped back, accelerating away from the trail of rockets. A copy of Mecha Sally’s arm cannon grew from each of her forearms, firing two pulses of plasma into the cloud of artillery following her. Two detonations blossomed into a raging inferno, a chain-reaction of explosions that obscured the two opponents from each others’ view. Seizing her chance, she dropped back to the snowy ground, discarding the cannons, as her forearms began to shift and reshape.   
  
“You call those embarrassments on Mecha Sally’s arms swords?” Her hands folded away into a pair of trapezoid panels, golden plasma forming a pair of forward-facing blades on each of them. The blades hummed, the energy visibly flowing from the outer edge, looping into the gap between the two. “How about these?!”  
  
Surging forward, she leapt through the cloud of smoke left over from the conflagration. The Egg Beater lurched forward, swinging the maul straight down toward her. Leaning back, she slid on her knees under the head of the weapon as it crashed down, scraping against the icy ground as she scissored her chainblades around the haft. Trapped between the two blades on each weapon, metal began to melt away from the hammer, blades sawing into it.   
  
Eggman growled, pulling the hammer back up, only to drag the Gizoid up with it. Letting gravity take her, Emerl slid down the pole, cutting the blades deeper into it, until with an almighty flex and a roar of exertion, she split the maul in two.  
  
Folding the dual-chainswords back into her arms, Emerl grabbed the falling half-maul, rockets straining against its weight. Snarling, she twisted her body, the momentum keeping her in motion and carrying the maul in a wide arc around her form.   
  
“Catch!” She released her grip on the ruined maul, hurling it straight into the Egg Beater. The huge mech stumbled back, unbalanced by the weight of its own weapon, and pitched over, crashing down into the snow. It threw the hammerhead aside, but Emerl was already upon it, missiles spearing from the two launchers that had formed over her shoulders. The shield snapped into place once more, blocking the rockets, but once again, she used the smoke to break Eggman’s lock on her.  
  
Flying in close, she ducked under the shield, grabbing onto the mounting bracket with one hand, as she reformed the plasma chainblade on the other, driving the weapon straight into the joint between arm and shield. Searing through the struts, she tore the shield from its mounting and jumped onto the incoming right arm, running the length of the forearm before slicing her blades directly into the elbow, cleaving the joint apart.  
  
  
“No!” Eggman shouted, watching her take to the air and soar away from the severed limb. Furiously punching in commands, the mech rose back to its feet and opened up its missile pods again, ready to launch yet another barrage. Before he could lock on, however, Emerl swerved back toward him and fired the launchers on her shoulders again. Each rocket streaked from its tube, and slammed into the pods, detonating every single one of the would-be dictator’s unlaunched munitions. There weren’t many left by this point, but the blast was still enough to destroy both pods and heavily damage the Egg Beater’s shoulders.  
  
  
Inside the cockpit, Eggman raged, slamming his fists against the console, howling with fury. Wherever this tiny bot had been dredged up from, it was slowly dismembering his newest Egg Beater, and had also eliminated Mecha Sally’s defences against mental intrusion. Sparing a glance for the mechanical squirrel, he saw her struggling to hold back the four opponents, mostly forced to try and avoid their attacks and strike back whenever she could.  
  
Even a man of his stubbornness could recognise that the battle was lost… but ordering a retreat now would just bring the Freedom Fighters and their new mechanical friend straight into his Death Egg. Staying to fight would see this newcomer disable his mech and allow Tails to extract Sally’s core from it, while Nicole would overcome the mechanical squirrel’s defences and restore her mind. Either way, the battle was lost.  
  
But, he allowed himself a grin, that didn’t necessarily mean the Freedom Fighters were going to win.  
  
Eggman took a deep breath, and returned to his controls. He began the separation sequence for his Eggmobile, then turned to his failsafe commands. Turning the keys above the two he had chosen, he sat back in his chair as the explosive bolts connecting the Egg Beater’s helmet fired, blasting the domed structure clear of the heavily damaged mech. Enclosed within his glass bubble, the dictator steered his pod free of the Egg Beater as its knees buckled and the giant collapsed awkwardly into the arctic wastes.  
  
`Unit M-S_01 beginning failsafe detonation sequence.`  
`Unit E-B_03 beginning EMP charge.`  
  
As the mech hit the ground, a panel on its chestplate opened, and a small cylindrical shape rose from it, red warning lights flashing along it. At the same time, Mecha Sally threw Sonic off of her, then paused, going rigid as her own torso plating hinged apart, exposing a round, black shape with a digital dial on it, which began to rapidly count down from sixty.  
  
  
“Eggman!” Sonic yelled, glaring hatefully up at the Eggmobile. The scientist simply laughed, turning the vehicle around and accelerating back toward the Death Egg. Sonic turned back to his friends, looking straight at Tails. “Can you get that thing out?!”  
  
“N-not without my tools, and those were in the hold of the Tornado!” The fox replied, panic evident in his voice and the look on his face.  
  
“Silver, what about you?! Can you brute force it!?”  
  
“I’m trying, but I can’t get a grip on it! It’s integrated into her construction and I’m not that precise with these powers!”  
  
  
At the same time, Emerl slammed her fists into the metal on either side of the EMP generator, crumpling the structure. She gripped the cylinder in both hands and pulled, wrenching the whole assembly from the downed Egg Beater. The slowly-accelerating warning lights did not go out, however, and Emerl quickly saw the reason: Wired into the base of the weapon was a small orb, about the size of a Mobian heart, pulsing with blue light, and with four connection points, all linked up to the detonator.  
  
It didn’t take much to figure that this was Mecha Sally’s stolen core, now serving as the battery for the weapon that would kill her, Nicole, and Sally herself if she didn’t find a way to stop it. Emerl cursed quietly to herself.  
  
“Next time I see that man, I will kill him.” She growled, as she began to disconnect the wires from the core itself, tearing them from the bomb so as to not damage any part of the core. She let her shoulders sag in relief, tension leaving her frame for a moment.  
  
Then she noticed that the EMP was still beeping, and growing more frantic all the while. Disconnecting the core hadn’t stopped it, only caused it fire earlier, presumably with less power, but still in killing range for its intended targets. The core and the EMP were connected, not by wires but by a welded link. She attempted to pull them apart, but the joint was too strong and she didn’t feel like accidentally damaging the core while trying to save it.   
  
Activating the head laser again, she focused the beam and severed the metal structure holding the two devices together. Gently, she placed the core down on the snow, then took several steps forward before leaping into the air and blasting away, launching herself in the direction of Eggman’s slowly-retreating hovercraft.  
  
It took less than a second for her to make the calculations necessary, before she folded her body up and span rapidly in place, mimicking something she’d seen Sonic do during his fight. Rather than launching herself forward, however, she uncurled and thrust her arm out, putting all of the momentum from her rapid rotation behind it as she hurled the EMP generator after the mad scientist’s escape craft.  
  
The weapon rocketed from her fingers as her momentum slowed, and she halted, hovering with her hand shielding her optics from the glare as it travelled along its predicted arc and bounced off the cockpit glass, moments before a small pulse rippled out from it and sent the Eggmobile into an uncontrolled downward spin.  
  
For a moment, she considered flying after him. Ultimately, however, saving Sally was the most important task. Rescuing Nicole’s friends was why she had come out here, after all. Her optics returned to their normal colour, as her ring energy faded, and she dropped back to the ground, scooping up the fallen core as she landed. It still pulsed regularly in her hand, and there looked to be no signs of damage from the rushed separation.  
  
Across from her, the others were still clustered around Mecha Sally. The robot was no longer fighting them, simply standing in place as the clock in her chest counted down. The quartet’s attempts to pull it from her body weren’t going well, Emerl noted, as she approached.  
  
Sonic’s head jerked up toward the Emerl, as if he was expecting a hostile, but he clocked the armoured figure and the small orb clutched protectively in her hands, and relaxed slightly.  
  
“Hey, you’ve got a lot of strength in ya. Think you can pull this thing out?” He asked hopefully.  
  
“Not without damaging her,” Emerl shook her head. “From the plans, it’s pretty securely mounted in there, probably bigger than the opening. You’d probably need to partially disassemble her to do that, and not only is this not a good environment for that, but it’s something I can’t do. I’m basically only good for fighting.”  
  
“Then… there’s nothing we can do to save her?” Silver asked.   
  
“There has to be  _something!_ ” Sonic snapped. “We didn’t come all this way just to lose her like this!”  
  
“Nicole can do it,” Tails spoke up, focused on the countdown. “We can’t remove the bomb, at least, not here… but Nicole can turn it off.”  
  
“How much longer does she have left?” Emerl asked.  
  
“Thirty seconds.”  
  
“Then she needs to hurry it up…” Amy murmured. “Come on, Nicole…”  
  
  
The timer continued to tick down, dipping under twenty seconds as the five waited in stoic silence. Then, as the red digits began the final countdown from ten, the clock stopped. For a moment, it slowly dropped another few digits, taking more and more time to change each time, before stopping altogether and flashing at the frozen time, before deactivating entirely.  
  
All five cheered, as Nicole appeared, flickering in front of Mecha Sally.  
  
“I’ve shut down the bomb, and disconnected it completely, so Eggman can’t turn it back on,” She announced. “Fortunately I hadn’t got into the real heavy work on her processor, so I was able to divert my attention and deactivate it.”  
  
“Oh thank Aurora,” Sonic sighed heavily with relief. “So, you’ve just got to fix her brain now, right?”  
  
“That’s correct,” Nicole nodded. “Sit tight for just a while longer, and I’ll be right back.”  
  
Nicole faded from the physical plane again, diving into the depths of Mecha Sally’s processor.


	3. Headspace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggman has been defeated, but the battle isn't over yet. Descending into the depths of Mecha Sally's mutilated systems, Nicole must face the mad doctor's programming and fight to save her oldest friend, and this time, she's alone... or is she?

**Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum  
**   
Chapter 3 of 5: Headspace  
  
  
With Eggman gone and Mecha Sally paralysed, Sonic’s small team were left alone on the ice with Silver and Emerl, waiting for Nicole’s return. None of them said anything, the five content to let the faint howl of the wind go undisturbed as they took in their victory.  
  
Mecha Sally was safely in their care, and Nicole was already undoing Eggman’s work, while the mad doctor himself had lost his latest machine and been forced to retreat. He hadn’t made it far, thanks to Emerl, and it would be a while before he recovered from the setback they had dealt him. As far as Sonic really cared, this could be filed under ‘Mission Accomplished.’  
  
“So, Tails. I think you and Nicole have got a bit of explaining to do,” The blue hedgehog finally spoke up, glancing at Emerl.  
  
Tails nodded, looking over at the robot for a second, and cleared his throat.  
  
“Well, Nicole isn’t here right now, so I’ll do it,” He said. “Uhm, what did Nicole say your name was?”  
  
“Emerl.”  
  
“Right, well, Emerl here is a Gizoid. They’re a sort of extremely powerful warrior robot. Paradoxically highly advanced and very old, ancient, even,” Tails began.  
  
“Hey, I’m not old!” She protested.   
  
“Your body is approximately three thousand years old,” The fox replied. “You’ve been asleep for most of it.”  
  
“If her body is that old, why is Nicole compatible with it?” Amy asked.  
  
“Well, that’s partially due to the modifications we made while we were working on the body when we found it, and partially because we believe that the technology that was used to make Nicole was reverse-engineered from the same technology that made Emerl, that of the Fourth Great Civilisation. She’s something of a bridge between us and them.”  
  
“What were they like?”  
  
“We don’t know. We only know they existed at all from a few scraps and fragments, and the occasional account from another contemporary civilisation. We only know their language because archaeologists found a stone that happened to serve as a translation between Nocturnian and Ancient Echidna, which we know significantly more of.”  
  
“Huh, interesting,” Sonic said. “So, what about more details regarding our new friend here?”  
  
“We found her while you were in space, and she became something of a group project. Everyone played their part… until Fiona joined the team,” Tails continued.   
  
“Ugh,  _her._ ” Amy groaned. Tails gave her a look for a moment, then resumed speaking.  
  
“Well, Fiona actually knew what it was that we had found, and explained that the Gizoid was actually incredibly dangerous. Reportedly, a single Gizoid had gone berserk and practically wiped out the Nocturnus themselves, at least managing to cripple them enough that their empire collapsed.”  
  
“Wait, one of me did all that? By itself?” Emerl asked. “I didn’t think we were that strong...”  
  
“I’m still somewhat dubious as to whether I trust the story,” Tails admitted. “Still, we tried to find a way to ensure activation would be safe, but there were no guarantees. Ultimately, we decided that the risk was too great to activate the Gizoid, and gave the access codes to the lab to two people: Sally and Nicole. It was only be to used in the most dire situation, one where adding a berserk city-destroying robot to the mix wouldn’t make it worse than it already was. Nicole decided that this was the right time, apparently, and I think she made the right choice.”  
  
“I’ll say,” Sonic nodded, looking over at the wreckage of the Egg Beater. “You’re pretty strong, Emerl, if you were able to do that.”  
  
“Well, I’m no more powerful than anyone else here,” She shrugged. “I’m just not tired, and having a metal body lets me go all-out for longer and hit harder. My damage output is exactly the same as that of the ability I copied. If you were as fresh as me, you’d have had no problems with that.”  
  
“Well, I’m still glad you showed up,” Sonic grinned. “Thanks for the help.”  
  
“Don’t thank me yet, we’re only part of the way done. Now it’s all up to Nicole…”  
  
***  
  
Sally’s processor being a mess was something the lynx should’ve expected. She just wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. Everything, including Mecha Sally’s functions, her passive systems, and, hopefully, the trapped consciousness of the real Sally, had been compressed into half the space it needed, which went a long way toward explaining why she was so slow.  
  
Not that Nicole was moving quickly, of course. With the density of the code and Eggman’s own shoddy work, she felt as though she were forcing her way through a dense pit of sludge, forcing her way deeper and deeper into the depths of the computer.  
  
Moving through some systems, she had discovered, felt like flying. She could float wherever she needed to go, almost unhindered. Others were more like swimming. There was some resistance, and she had to push herself, but still easily manageable. She assumed it was manageable anyway, she’d never personally done any swimming, as far as she knew, so she didn’t really understand her own comparison. Certainly, Sonic wouldn’t agree with her.   
  
This was more like crawling. As if the code around her was solid and unyielding and she had to pull herself along, battering her way through the layers of programming. Fortunately, the Doctor’s overconfidence was on her side. Barring the Power Ring Matrix, there were no defences within Mecha Sally. She didn’t want to think about fighting a firewall or an antivirus with her movements so sluggish.  
  
Finally, she felt herself speed up a little, as the broken tides of coding at long last formed something she could interact with. The ground gave way beneath her, and she found herself falling toward what looked like a wall of some sort, Eggman’s grinning logo emblazoned upon it, extending well past her range of sight, into the darkness.  
  
She flew up to the wall, inspecting it closely… There was a seam of some sort, roughly in what she assumed to be the middle of it. Not a wall, then, but a  _gate._  That made things significantly easier. A wall would have to be torn down or punched through. A gate? That could simply be opened.  
  
Nicole pressed her palm against the steel-grey structure, green glow enveloping her, trails of emerald light spreading out from her fingers, forming an intricate lattice as they spread across the gate, separating out into more and more strands, moving in straight lines, turning only in right angles. A cluster of them encircled the Eggman logo, stabbing into it, as the eyes of the logo turned green, before the whole thing vanished, replaced with a simple glowing orb.  
  
An emerald glow shone through the seam, brightening as, with a low rumble and a heavy groan of metal, the gate slowly slid apart, steam pouring out of it, before she flew through it, landing on the solid ground she found on the other side.  
  
Something flashed in the corner of her eye, and she jumped back and upwards, dodging the incoming attack. She looked down at the program, which resembled the original form of Mecha Sally, before Eggman’s modifications, brandishing its glowing crimson claws as it stared at her with red optics.  
  
“I thought I’d find you in here,” Nicole said, landing again. In a flash, a rectangular shield of light formed on her left arm, a short sword with a triangular blade in her free hand. “Where is Sally?”  
  
Mecha Sally gave no response, charging forward again, swinging her talons at the lynx. It slammed into her shield, pushing her back for a moment, before she shoved back, overpowering the program. She primed to take a swing at her, but paused. What if this  _was_  Sally? What if the new version of the Roboticizer also converted the victim’s mind fully, rather than leaving them awake and imprisoned. If she deleted this program, would she be deleting Sally?  
  
Sensing her hesitation, the mechanical squirrel shifted, grasping the sides of the shield and pulling it down, another pair of arms appearing on her shoulders and lashing at Nicole’s face, clawing into her avatar. She yelped, as all four of the robot’s arms pulled her shield free, then slammed the edge of it into her chest.  
  
She fell back, bouncing over the ground, as Mecha Sally lunged at her, bringing her heel down on her stomach.   
  
“`Beginning virus infection.`” The program finally spoke, stabbing her arm into Nicole’s chest. She screamed, watching a web of crimson code spreading its way across her avatar, wrapping around her limbs and constricting her body, pinning her to the floor. She strained, struggling against the weight of the robot, and the pull of the coding trying to contain her.   
  
“`You have lost. You will become a part of the Eggma-`” The robot never finished her sentence, as a glowing blue blade erupted from her chest. She froze, her voice sticking for a moment, before she exploded into a cloud of data shards. The red bindings evaporated from Nicole, and she lifted her head up to meet the eyes of her rescuer.  
  
  
“You looked like you could use a hand.” Sally smiled down at her, holding out her left, the right clutching a sword. Nicole grabbed it immediately, standing up and hugging the squirrel. She was here, free of the programming’s influence. She looked like hell, bruised, battered and bleeding, hair messy, jacket ripped, and boots barely holding together, but she was here.  
  
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Nicole cried out, tears filling her eyes as she felt Sally return the embrace. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve done something sooner, I should’ve saved you faster!”  
  
“Nicole, it’s okay…” She said, holding her closer. “You’ve been through a lot, you can’t be blamed for getting caught up in that. You still made it here in the end.”  
  
“Have you been fighting it this entire time?” Nicole asked, separating from the hug, looking the squirrel’s battered form up and down.  
  
“Mostly, yes. It’s been… tiring,” Sally sighed, picking up her sword again. “That program wasn’t alone, there’s a lot of them. I had hoped that by deleting them all, I’d be able to break free of Eggman’s influence. Unfortunately it seems as though any that I destroy get replaced. I’ve found where they’re coming from, but I can’t destroy it by myself. I’m not really used to existing digitally, and his grip is tight enough that I can’t be as powerful in here as you are in your own mind.”  
  
“Well, now that there’s two of us… I think we can handle it,” Nicole smiled, reforming her weapons. Sally grinned back, and began to walk forward, leading Nicole behind her.   
  
“Alright then, it’s this way,” She announced, as they picked up their pace, crossing the empty plain toward their destination. More of the Mecha Sally programs appeared, flickering into their path with a cloud of pixels, charging toward the pair of them. Sally charged forward first, slicing each of the drones apart. Nicole followed her lead. Now that she knew that none of these things were really her friend, she needn’t hold back, she could just delete them with ease.  
  
“Sally, how aware of what’s going on outside are you?” She asked, a green pulse launching from her fingers and exploding in the face of the nearest droid.  
  
“I know all of it. I’m still aware, I still have access to my memories, even if I’m not the one currently experiencing them. I know what happened to Antoine… and that Naugus took over… and I know you activated the Gizoid,” Sally replied, kicking a drone down and stabbing it through the torso.  
  
“Bunnie also left, and Rotor resigned from the council,” Nicole admitted, slamming one into the wall with her shield, cutting it in two. “Rotor refused to be a part of them after Naugus convinced the rest to exile me, and I think Bunnie’s searching for a way to help Antoine. That’s why it was just Sonic, Tails, and Amy chasing you.”  
  
“Well, looks like we’re going to have to do some cleanup when we get out of here,” Sally sliced another in half.   
  
  
Eventually, they cleared out the drones, cutting their way through to the source, a large domed structure, factory machines audible from inside. A door at the front opened, and more of the droids began to flood out, reaching out with claws at the two Freedom Fighters.  
  
“That’s a lot of them,” Nicole braced herself.   
  
“I know, that’s why I couldn’t get in before,” Sally replied. “But we can do this now, together.”  
  
“Right,” Nicole nodded. “Let’s go, then.”  
  
  
The lynx moved first, racing forward with her shield raised, barrelling into the column and bashing the Robian figures out of the way, sword lashing out to cut down those beside her. Sally followed, covering her other flank and rear. They pressed further on, cleaving apart the avatars of Eggman’s virus, never giving them a chance to push back, as Nicole’s avatar began to glow brighter and brighter.  
  
“Nicole? What’s with the glow?” Sally asked, cutting another apart.   
  
“I’m cooking up something bigger. On my signal, jump, and try to land on my shield.”  
  
“Right!” She nodded, averting her eyes and slamming the pommel of her sword into the head of the nearest drone, kicking it back and stabbing her blade through it and into the drone behind it. The drones exploded, allowing her to move the weapon again, sweeping it in a wide arc, tearing more and more of their code apart.  
  
“Sally, now!” Nicole’s voice shouted behind her. She crouched and launched herself upwards, flipping over backwards and landing directly on top of Nicole’s shield. The lynx was crouched, with the square of light held above her head, and she sprang upright, propelling herself and Sally into the air. She released her shield, allowing the momentum to carry it, and her friend, higher and higher. “Aim for the door!”  
  
Sally crouched again, pushing off from the shield and lunging for the door of the factory, arcing over the heads of the hostile programs.  
  
Nicole herself dropped down, slamming her now-free hand into the ground, roughly in the centre of the throng of enemy programs. A shockwave of jade light exploded from her palm, rippling through the army and deleting all of them, just in time for Sally to land just where the outermost ones had been standing.   
  
“We’re all clear!” Sally beamed, as the duo regrouped. “Well done, Nicole.”  
  
“Thanks, now let’s get rid of this thing and go home.”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
  
Heading into the factory itself, they found only a few active drones, most of the others inside being still under construction. A few gathered at the outermost end of the assembly lines, but otherwise, resistance was minimal.  
  
“This place is rather simple for one of Eggman’s factories…” Sally mused as they pressed on. It was true, the interior of the dome seemed to be little more than a circle of assembly lines making drones, spanning outwards from a central control area, far easier to navigate than the warren of corridors and dead-ends that the dictator normally filled his buildings with.  
  
“Probably because it’s not really a factory. It’s just the part of your programming that is producing the infected control code. This is just what our minds are perceiving it as, a most logical form for it. Since the systems aren’t exactly the most complex, it takes a more simplistic shape,” Nicole explained, as they walked up to the central column of the whole structure. “We’ve already dealt with the worst of the defences, now we just have to deal with the source, which we'll more than likely find in here.”  
  
“Ah, alright,” Sally tightened her grip on her weapon, taking a deep breath. “Ready?”  
  
“Yeah. You?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
  
Nicole sliced the door open, and stepped into the void on the other side. For a moment, the entire area was empty, before Sally followed her in and the room took shape.   
  
It looked like the old control room in Robotropolis- A bank of computer screens on each wall, and a throne in the centre of the room, rising out of a pit, the gap spanned by a quartet of walkways. The dim lights were red rather than green, however, and the Roboticizer was absent.   
  
“`Self-destruct timer overdue. Detonator not responding. Weapon systems offline. Servos offline. Thrusters offline. Unit is disabled. Attempting system reboot.`” A voice, very much like Sally’s, but devoid of emotion and with a faint grate in it, spoke up from the throne.  
  
“There, that’s the source…” Nicole whispered. Not quietly enough, it seemed, as the throne turned toward them, exposing a figure identical to Mecha Sally’s modified form, save for the Eggman logo emblazoned on her chestplate, and her hateful crimson optics. Wires and cables extended from the throne itself into her body, and as she opened her mouth to speak, her entire muzzle split open, exposing a row of fangs.  
  
“`Infection located. Purging systems before attempting reboot.`” She separated from the throne, the wires retracting into it as she stalked forward, moving more like a predatory animal than a Mobian or a robot. Her ‘hair’ pulled back slightly, but rather than a weapon, it exposed a baleful optic, glaring down at them. Red blades extended out of her arms, as another pair extended from her shoulders, and she lunged at the two friends.  
  
Nicole stepped forward, bringing her shield up and bracing for the impact, but it never came. The robot leapt over her head, aiming her weapons at Sally herself. The squirrel jumped aside, letting her counterpart hit the ground as Nicole slashed at her back, two of her arms blocking the strike. Mecha Sally stood upright, rounding on them both. She stepped between them, right arms lashing at Nicole, the left at Sally. Neither side found its mark, locking with the organic’s sword and crashing against the AI’s shield, pressing against each other for a moment.  
  
Mecha Sally withdrew her blades, causing her two attackers to overbalance, before spinning her torso section, holding out her arms as her blades became a wheel of scarlet light, shrieking through the air between them. Both reeled back, avoiding any damage, but held at bay by the continuous spin.  
  
The robot glanced between them, then took a step toward Nicole, pushing her back. The lynx growled, struggling to hold her shield up against the constant barrage of blades. Sally followed, trying to strike under the wheel, but something else struck her in the stomach, cutting into her and throwing her back. Mecha Sally stopped, and thrust all four of her blades into Nicole’s shield, penetrating it and tearing it apart. At the same time, six barbed metal tendrils, tipped with spikes, extended from her upper back. One of them had hit the Princess, who carefully climbed back to her feet during the brief pause.  
  
Nicole let the remains of her shield fall, taking her sword in both hands and doubling its size and weight. She bodily swung the weapon at her opponent, knocking her off-balance for a moment as its blades struggled to block the heavier weapon. She pressed her attack, holding the greatsword over her head and swinging it down, forcing Mecha Sally to use all four of her own to block it.   
  
Yet, as Nicole began to turn the tide, Sally wasn’t faring so well. The tendrils snaked out toward her, curling past her attempts to block them, forcing her to dodge. As the robot shifted to try and evade Nicole’s strikes, so she backed her own counterpart toward the walkway. The barbs nicked at her already-injured form, cutting and grazing her skin, never quite hitting home, but hurting all the same.  
  
Finally, she made that crucial mistake. As the tendrils arced toward her, pincering from both sides and thrusting forward, Sally stepped back out of their reach, and onto the narrow, railed platform. Her blade severed one of them, getting just the right angle to slice it apart, but the robot wasn’t deterred.  
  
She stepped back, giving herself room once more, and lashed out at Sally. There was no room for her to dodge anymore, and her metallic counterpart was too close for her to just back away. The first wrapped around Sally’s sword, wrenching it from her grip as it grasped her arm too, three more grappling with her remaining limbs, as Nicole looked up and realised, too late, why the program hadn’t been focused on her.  
  
“Sally!” She cried out, trying to juke around Mecha Sally, only to meet her blades again, blocking her path. The final tendril plunged into Sally’s chest, the other four driving into her back as a pulse of crimson rippled down each of them, and the princess screamed.  
  
When the red flash faded, the tendrils retracted, and a second Mecha Sally stood on the bridge, looking identical to her actual form in the outside world.  
  
“`You should not have brought her here. That was the last of her mind. Now it is a part of me.`” The first Mecha Sally stood over Nicole, as the lynx stared at her friend in horror. “`You have failed. This unit will not be taken from its Master. Surrender and be assimilated.`”  
  
“Never!” Nicole growled, thrusting her sword forward once more.  
  
“`So be it.`”  
  
  
Sally stood on the bridge, unable to move. She looked out at the two other programs through a red haze, but focusing on the whirl of blades proved impossible. Her mind was occupied, but with what?  
  
She’d been hurt, that thing had stabbed her, but it wasn’t that… she didn’t feel a pain in her chest or her back, but in her head. But why did she have a headache? Robots didn’t get headaches. And her sister-unit hadn’t stabbed her there… She focused her attention on the ache in her processor and finally realised what was happening to her, as she felt the same corrupting code that filled the other Mecha Sally was now writing itself into her. Burying her under another layer of obedience to her hated enemy, one that even Nicole wouldn’t be able to breach.  
  
But that wasn’t her. These weren’t her thoughts. None of this was part of her, and she refused to let it have its way. She refused to let Eggman’s virus claim her. She wasn’t a robot, and she wasn’t going to accept being one.   
  
The red haze faded from her vision, and she moved, arms sliding open as blue energy blades slid into place along her forearms. She jumped from the bridge, and launched herself directly at her monstrous counterpart, driving her swords into its back.  
  
  
Mecha Sally let out a modulated scream, arching back as Sally’s weapons tore through its armour, destroyed the mounting points for its tendrils, and poked out through its chestplate. It staggered sinking to its knees as Sally looked over the top of its head at Nicole.  
  
“`Are you okay?`” She asked, as the AI’s face broke out in a giddy smile.  
  
“I should be the one asking you that!” She called back.   
  
  
The robot wasn’t done, however. Her head snapped around, locking optics with Sally, as all four of her arms reached back and pulled her attacker away from her, before flipping Sally overhead and slamming her into the ground in front of Nicole. Sally fired the engines in her feet, launching herself across the ground and bowling her counterpart off of her feet. Falling forward, the droid’s chestplate was torn away by Nicole’s blade, exposing a blazing scarlet orb inside, pulsing rapidly. The program climbed back upright, blocking a second strike from the lynx, before launching herself after Sally.  
  
All four of her swords thrust toward the squirrel, only to miss their mark as she twisted herself around and cleaved through the second pair of forearms, severing them. Mecha Sally roared, swinging out wildly and clipping her opponent’s thruster, sending her into a downward spin.  
  
As she paused to recollect herself, however, Nicole snatched Sally from the air and brought her to a safe landing on the bridge.  
  
“`Thanks, Nicole.`” Sally smiled as much as she could with a metal face, standing herself upright and scooping up the sword she’d dropped earlier, as the two looked up at the hostile robot.   
  
It howled with rage, and charged down toward them. Jumping aside, the two separated as she flew between them and ripped the bridge apart, descending into the pit a short distance before arcing back upwards, soaring above their heads. It locked onto Nicole, snarling at her as it dove toward her.  
  
“`You die first! You brought her here! She will be converted once you are dead, but you are first! You will die!`” It howled, drawing its blades back for the attack.   
  
Nicole responded in kind, racing up toward the virus, greatsword primed to drive forward. As they drew close, she took advantage of her weapon’s greater size, thrusting it directly upwards and into Mecha Sally’s gut, cleanly impaling her. The robot’s flight stopped immediately, stunned, as Nicole continued to push upwards, allowing herself a smile as she saw Sally rising into her flight path and beginning to fly down toward the pair.  
  
“`You missed! Failed! Failure! You’re trapped!`” Mecha Sally screeched, raising her weapons again.  
  
“Did I miss?” Nicole asked, smirking slightly, locking eyes with the incoming Robian, who shot the same look back at her, brandishing her sword.  
  
“`My core still burns! I still function! You will still die!”`”  
  
“`Behind you!`”   
  
“`What!?`” Mecha Sally’s upper torso snapped around, just in time for the two entangled opponents to collide with the real Sally, as her blade tore through her mutated counterpart’s open chest cavity, impaling her flickering core and erupting from her already-ravaged backplate. Mecha Sally’s optics went wide for a moment, and she let out an ear-splitting shriek, before her core exploding, a bright red fireball ripping through the room and throwing both Freedom Fighters into the walls with a heavy thud.  
  
  
When the light faded, the red aura was gone from the room entirely, replaced with a softer blue. Sally slowly clambered to her feet, stumbling slightly before Nicole caught her, and enveloped her in a tight hug.  
  
“`Thank you, Nicole… for everything,`” She sighed, returning the gesture.  
  
“Me? You’re the one that did most of the work!” Nicole replied.  
  
“`And I couldn’t have done any of it without you,`” Sally smiled, letting her sword fall to the ground, before she released her friend and turned toward the throne. “`Only one thing left to do now…`”  
  
  
Sally walked forward, striding up to the seat, and sat herself down on it. The wires snaked out of it once more, plugging into her body as she closed her optics and tensed herself for a moment. Then, with a brilliant flash of azure light, the dark control room was washed away, fading into the aether as the throne room of the old Acorn palace, the same one that Sally had lived in as a child, took its place. The sun shone through the windows, birds chirping outside, as Sally, restored to her organic form, no sign of the cuts and bruises she’d accumulated over her time trapped in her own head, rested on the seat, smiling warmly.  
  
  
***  
  
Outside, on the frozen tundra, the five Freedom Fighters still stood, waiting quietly. Sonic paced back and forth, while Tails distracted himself by looking over the schematic hologram that Emerl had created. Silver stood nearby, still focused on the Robian, ready to move at a second’s notice if she became active and hostile again. Amy and Emerl just waited, the former looking more apprehensive than the latter.  
  
Then, Mecha Sally jolted, as her locked joints disengaged once more, and she began to stumble forward, steadying herself before she could trip. All five looked up at her, expressions a mix of expectant and fearful, before she stood upright, Nicole appeared over her shoulder, and both of them smiled.  
  
  
“`Hello, everyone.`”


	4. Raid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sally in control of her body again, the heroes launch a risky play to steal the Chaos Emerald from the Death Egg. With the madman himself now crashed into a snowdrift, miles from the station, it should be easy... But the mad doctor isn't resting on his laurels, and the Death Egg's final sentinel is far beyond anything the team could've expected.

**Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum  
**   
Chapter 4 of 5: Raid  
  
  
Emerl and Silver stood back as Sonic, Tails, and Amy hugged Sally tightly, as Nicole floated over to join the two of them.  
  
“Not joining the group hug?” Emerl asked.  
  
“Oh, I had my turn already. Besides, no body,” Nicole replied, her avatar growing to normal size.  
  
“Is she safe now?” Silver didn’t avert his eyes from the quartet.  
  
“Yes, she is. Eggman’s programming has been purged from her systems, and the bomb has been completely disarmed. I think it’s safe to say this crisis is at an end. Or at least, it’s not a crisis anymore,” Nicole explained. “There’s still the matter of restoring her to normal, but I think I have a solution for that.”  
  
“You do? Those mods seemed pretty extensive. I’m not sure we can reverse them…” Emerl mused.  
  
“Yeah, I can’t imagine Eggman would keep her original parts after he removed them. I mean, I haven’t seen much of the guy, but he seems like that kind of monster,” Silver added.  
  
“True, but if we super-charge her repair systems, then we can just dismantle the ‘upgrades’ and let her fix herself!” Nicole beamed.  
  
“Will that work?” Silver tilted his head.   
  
“In theory, yeah,” Emerl nodded. “My repair unit does the same sort of thing for me, I was basically a skeleton when Nicole woke me up.”  
  
“Okay, next question, how do we do that? I mean, I’m gonna guess it’s not as easy as plugging her into the wall.” The grey hedgehog shrugged.   
  
“No… It will need to be a much more powerful charge… this needs to be completed quickly, and for injuries this extensive, I’m not sure if even Emerl’s core will be enough…” Nicole shook her head.  
  
“`Fortunately, I think I might have a solution,`” Sally walked over, followed by the others. “`I couldn’t keep from overhearing, but I know that Eggman has another Chaos Emerald within the Death Egg. If we can recover that and combine its power with the one inside Emerl, that should do the trick.`”   
  
“The Death Egg’s that big stupid-looking space station that’s landed in the distance, right?” Emerl asked, jabbing her thumb in its general direction.  
  
“That’s correct,” Tails nodded.   
  
“Are you guys in any condition to attack that thing?”  
  
“We don’t have a lot of choice, do we?” Sonic asked. “If we don’t go for it now, we might miss our chance, and that’s not an option.”  
  
“Alright then,” Emerl shrugged. “Group up, I’ll warp us in.”  
  
“`Actually, you’ll have to settle for getting us close,`” Sally shook her head. “`Eggman has the whole thing shielded against teleportation.`”  
  
“Well, alright then.”  
  
***  
  
Having closed the distance within seconds, Sally led the impromptu party into the Death Egg. With Eggman several miles from the station and with no functioning technology to hand, the Robian squirrel still had full security clearance, and was able to simply lead them through the door.  
  
Of course, once they were inside, the security systems detected the presence of the rest of the group, deploying an array of sleek, white-armoured guard robots emerging from concealed doors within the walls, aiming automatic arm guns at them.  
  
“These are new,” Sonic commented, crushing the cranium of the nearest robot, bouncing to another, then another after that, leaving a trail of non-functioning droids in his wake.  
  
“Wow, more terrible robots,” Emerl’s fist tore through another, ripping out the core of the machine, slamming the shell into the squad behind it. “Isn’t this guy meant to be smart?”  
  
“He’s also insane,” Tails replied, cutting the legs and weapon arms away from the robots, as Amy batted them away with her hammer.  
  
“`According to records, he has actually stopped his minions from claiming victory over Sonic because he wants to do it himself. These likely aren’t meant to be that dangerous, and were probably made to just slow Sonic and tire him out before Eggman would confront him personally,`” Sally explained. “`Of course, he isn’t here now, so that’s only going to work in our favour.`”  
  
“Well, can’t complain about that,” Silver waved his hand, scattering the remainder.  
  
“ _I_  can,” Emerl growled, jogging over to the door. “I want a good fight, and so far, I haven’t had one.”  
  
“Maybe wait for that until we’re not on a time limit. We have to get this done before Sally’s charge runs out,” Nicole smiled slightly at her new friend’s grumpiness, then glanced at the control panel. “Hold on, I can get this open.”  
  
Before the lynx could make her move, however, Emerl slammed her fist into the sliding door, punching it clean off of its tracks and propelling it into the room on the other side. The hologram paused for a moment, shooting Emerl a look as she huffed and stomped through the doorway. “That door was tougher than the robots.”  
  
“They’ve known each other for a matter of hours and they already bicker like Sonic and Sally do,” Tails sighed.  
  
“Hey!” Sonic yelled.  
  
“`I mean, he’s somewhat right…`” Sally mumbled, scratching the back of her head slightly.  
  
  
***  
  
Progress through the station wasn’t much different after that. The robots posed little threat to the group, even with four of them tired and a fifth barely able to fight in her current body. Sally continued to lead them toward the core of the station, where their quarry lay.   
  
As Emerl tore another set of doors away from their mountings, they stepped into the core chamber, the Emerald casting a blue light from pillar in the centre of the room, wires and cables extending out from it and disappearing into the walls, floor and ceiling.  
  
“There it is!” Amy beamed.  
  
“This looks too easy…” Silver mused, eyes flicking around the room.  
  
“You’re right, there’s something in here…”  
  
  
“ ** _Welcome, Sonic! I hope you’re enjoying your tour of my wonderful Death Egg!_** ”  
  
“Eggman!?”   
  
“ ** _Unfortunately, this is a recording, and I’m not around to share some scintillating conversation with you. Poor timing on your part, of course. Still, I knew you would seek out the core of the Death Egg once you found it, and the Chaos Emerald therein, and I couldn’t leave it unguarded, so I hope you’re ready for a fight! Allow me to introduce the greatest of the Metal Series and Mecha Sally’s partner in crime… Mecha Sonic, kill him._** ”  
  
The base of the pillar opened, steam pouring out as the shape of a tall, broad-shouldered robot, vaguely in the shape of a hedgehog, appeared through the fog. An orange-red visor lit up, a bar of identical colour crossing its chest. It took a step forward, clanking heavily on the metal floor, as the cloud parted, exposing its blue armour.  
  
“` **Hedgehog: Priority One.**`” Its engine roaring into life.  
  
“`Oh, that’s not good.`” If Sally could’ve gulped, she would have.  
  
“That is actually not an awful design… Alright…” Emerl cracked her knuckles, dropping into a low stance, her arms wide, fingers spread. Her third optic opened, and her eyes narrowed, as if smiling with anticipation. “Let’s go!”  
  
Both robots launched forward, boosters carrying them over the ground. Emerl drew her fist back, winding up for a heavy punch… only for the newcomer to juke around her strike, accelerating past her and toward the rest of the group. “ _Hey!_ ”  
  
“`Scatter!`” Sally commanded. She and Amy jumped to the sides, as Tails and Silver took off. Sonic lowered himself, and returned the charge in kind, curling up as he launched forward.  
  
His spinning form hit the robot’s forearm, only to bounce off, slamming into the back wall. Grunting in pain, he looked up to see a metal fist aiming straight for his face. His head ducked to the side as Mecha Sonic’s punch crumpled the wall where it had been just a moment before.  
  
“Hey, excuse me!”   
  
Mecha Sonic’s head glanced over its shoulder, just in time to see Emerl’s backhand crash against its temple, denting the armour slightly. The machine staggered and was seized in a cyan aura, suddenly disappearing across the room and crashing into the pillar.  
  
“You okay?” Emerl asked, as Sonic peeled himself off the wall.  
  
“Yeah. Seems like it’s fixated more on me than on the nearest threat, and I don’t think I can take another fight like this, so I’ll keep its attention, and you guys beat it down!” He straightened himself up.  
  
“Guys, hurry! I can’t hold it back much longer!” Silver shouted, visibly straining against Mecha Sonic’s strength. Nodding, Sonic launched himself forward, boosting into the paralysed robot, driving it through the generator. Mecha Sonic’s back scraped against the ground, kicking up sparks, as Sonic sprang off of it and began to run away.  
  
“Catch me if you can, tin-grin!” He jeered. It rolled onto its front, preparing to stand up, just as Amy brought her hammer down on its back. Its arm swung out, knocking her legs from under her. Rolling up into a spiked shell, it launched itself off the ground, homing in on Sonic. He just managed to evade it, leaving it to crash into the floor, cratering it. Uncurling, it reached out for him, as he turned on his heel and kicked the robot in the face.   
  
With a dull clang, Sonic stumbled back, clutching his foot, and received Mecha Sonic’s fist in his gut for his troubles. Hurled across the room, he thudded against the wall for a second time, wheezing for air.  
  
“Okay, bad idea,” He groaned, as Mecha Sonic stood up, stomping toward him. Its hand retracted, the barrel of a gun extending in its place, pointing it at him. It opened fire, but the bullet never found its mark, squashing against the forearm of Mecha Sally, the Robian glaring daggers at it.  
  
“ **`Unit: Mecha Sally. Stand aside.`** ” It spoke flatly.  
  
“`Never.`” She carefully moved herself forward, stance low.  
  
“ **`Unit acting in violation of protocol and given orders. Unit has turned traitor. Unit will be destroyed. Priority system disabled.`** ”  
  
It thrust its arm forward, fist reforming as the royal moved to dodge. The new weight threw her balance off, however, and she stumbled awkwardly, the attack just scraping against her armour. Unsteadily, she caught her balance for a moment, leaping forward to kick it. Her attack falling short, she felt the robot’s foot crash into her stomach, throwing her back against the wall.  
  
“Sal, are you okay!?” Sonic helped her stand. Even with the beating he’d already taken, he had elected to focus on her.   
  
“`Agh… this body’s all wrong… the strength, the weight, none of it works.`” She groaned. “`I’m not sure how I’ll be able to fight like this…`”  
  
“Well, you can’t be doing as badly as us,” Sonic smiled weakly, trying to steady himself. As if to illustrate his point, Tails’ attempt to slam his namesakes into the droid’s armour was halted when it grabbed hold of the attack and swung him into the floor. This time, it didn’t stop there, however, and brought up its foot to stomp on him.  
  
“Hey, get away from him!” Sonic yelled, boosting into his newest mechanical counterpart. Unsuspecting and balanced on one leg, Mecha Sonic was unable to prevent itself from being lifted off the ground and slammed into the column once again.  
  
Jolted for a moment, it raised its arms over its head, then swung them down onto Sonic, knocking him to the floor. It kicked him away, straightening up. As he scraped to a halt near Sally and Tails, Sonic spotted Amy charging toward the robot. Leaping up, she swung her hammer straight down toward its head, but it sidestepped, hand coming up to grasp the head of the weapon, stopping it dead with a loud clang. It twisted, swinging her into the remains of the column, then reached out with its free hand, grasping her neck. It roughly drove her into the floor, tearing the hammer from her grip in the same motion.  
  
Sally sprinted as best she could toward the Mecha Sonic. Despite her lack of agility with the awkward, heavy body, she was still in better shape than most of the others, and even if fighting was almost impossible like this, she could at least take hits that they couldn’t.  
  
Mecha Sonic’s head snapped toward her, and it threw Amy straight at her, forcing her to halt her charge and catch the hedgehog. The robot turned, hurling the stolen hammer into Silver, breaking his aura. Rolling into its shell again, it revved up and launched into the falling hedgehog, rebounding away and striking Sally’s back.  
  
Landing, Mecha Sonic turned to face the fallen group as its chestplate slid open, a squat barrel emerging from within. Sally gently set Amy down, forcing herself upright in time to see a harsh red light building within the newly exposed cannon. At this range, all of them would be hit by the blast, and most of them were unable to dodge. Raiding the Death Egg had been a bad idea, Sally decided. They could’ve gotten another Emerald, rather than just running in when most of her friends were running on empty.  
  
Just as Mecha Sonic braced to fire, Emerl landed behind it, wrapped her arms around its waist, and flipped it backwards, suplexing it headfirst into the floor. The cannon fired, a storm of plasma erupting from its open torso, completely destroying the central pillar and tearing through the wall of the chamber. Righting herself, she kicked it away, metallic spines scraping against the ground before it flipped over and came to a halt, lying on its front.  
  
“Nicole, jump into Sally. She needs you more than I do right now,” Emerl stated, squaring off with the Mecha Sonic as it stood up once again.  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“Yeah, she can barely fight, maybe you can help her. I’ll be just fine,” She nodded, punching her fists together. “This is just what I’ve been waiting for.”  
  
Both robots charged at each other, as Nicole nodded, retreating from Emerl’s systems and returning to Sally’s, settling in.  
  
“`Is this a good idea? My processor is already rather taxed,`” Sally asked, feeling the AI uploading herself.  
  
“I have an idea, actually. Your body isn’t suited for the way you normally fight, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something with what we have to work with. I will just need to do some power re-routing, though…” Nicole replied. “Like Emerl said, you’d function a lot better with just the one pair of cannons and swords, though I suppose you only have one of those now. The others are relatively useless and just taking up energy. Once that’s done, I’ll just be aiding your muscle memory.”  
  
“`Right, right…`” Sally flexed her right arm, the blue blade extending from it. “`Let’s try it...`”  
  
  
Emerl ducked under Mecha Sonic’s first punch, driving an uppercut of her own into its midsection. It staggered, torso spinning at the waist as it stepped back, arm clubbing against the side of her head. Reeling away, she grunted slightly.  
  
“Huh, felt that. Nice,” Emerl charged, her engines firing, drawing her fist back. Mecha Sonic responded in kind, palming the Gizoid’s punch aside and slugging her in the chestplate, launching her back. Bouncing off the floor, she tumbled over, slamming her hands into the ground to bring herself to a halt.  
  
Mecha Sonic rolled up, spinning toward her. Emerl revved herself up, surging forward to meet its charge. Both robots rebounded off of each other, homing in again. The bladed shell dug into Emerl’s curled form, flicking her back and forcing her to unroll. Mecha Sonic opened again in the same moment, engines roaring to life as it barged into the smaller robot, driving her into the wall.   
  
Pressing its forearm against her chest, it flipped out the gun in its free arm once more, the barrel widening and pulling back to expose a small missile, which it aimed right for her face. Before it could fire, the larger machine jolted, rearing back as something sliced into its back armour. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Emerl activated the laser beneath her crest, blasting it back, drawing her feet up and kicking both of them into its torso, sending it crashing to the floor.  
  
Sally flew up beside her, balancing carefully on her own engines.  
  
“Thanks for the save,” Emerl nodded to her, peeling away from the wall. “It’s tougher than it looks. I’m surprised that it’s one of Eggman’s.”  
  
“`You’re welcome.`” She smiled. “`Nicole’s rerouting power from the useless weapons to the sword and arm guns, so I should be able to help.`”  
  
“Alright, let’s finish this thing and get that Emerald!” She grinned, folding out her chainblades, and launching herself at Mecha Sonic. Sally followed, activating her left arm’s cannon. She curved around, opening fire from an angle where she wouldn’t shoot Emerl.  
  
Standing upright, Mecha Sonic raised its arm to shield itself from Sally’s gunfire, dodging Emerl’s diving thrust at the same time. It brought its elbow down sharply onto the Gizoid’s head, stopping her flight short as her face met the metallic floor. It turned, firing the missile at Sally, but a precise shot, aim guided by her AI comrade, destroyed the rocket. It exploded before it had even gained a lock, cutting off Mecha Sonic’s vision of her.  
  
Taking her chance, Emerl jumped back to her feet, slashing across its shoulder. It rounded on her, throwing a punch at her face, meeting the flat of her second blade with a tooth-grinding shriek. She chopped her free blade down, but it grasped her wrist, forcing her weapon away  
  
Seizing her chance, Sally lunged through the smoke, aiming her sword for the robot’s arm, slashing at its elbow. The arm buckled backwards, and Emerl wrenched her blade free, cutting across its midsection. The sword ground against its armour, but didn’t penetrate it, and Mecha Sonic rose up again, backhanding both of them aside. It leapt after them, grabbing Emerl’s ankle and slamming her into the floor, before hurling her away, into the wreckage of the central pillar.  
  
She stumbled to her feet, blades folding away as she shook her head, trying to clear her vision. As she steadied herself, a bright blue glow caught her eyes, filling her sight. As the light grew more intense, she raised her arms to shield her optics, but even with that, she felt the light pulling her in.  
  
Emerl stepped carefully closer to the light, spotting the source. Lying amongst the rest of the rubble sat a glowing blue gemstone, radiating boundless power. It must’ve been the Chaos Emerald they were looking for, freed from the generator. She wasn’t sure why, but she swore the glow shouldn’t be this intense… even though she didn’t recall ever seeing a Chaos Emerald in the past…  
  
More than that, it called to her. She stepped closer, slowly edging forward. Mesmerised by the Emerald, she carefully reached out for it, fingers closing around the stone, lifting it from the floor.  
  
  
Outside, Sally dodged away from Mecha Sonic’s fist. Considering how much of a fight this robot was putting up, she was starting to wonder why she had been sent out, and Mecha Sonic kept within the Death Egg. She supposed there was a certain logic to keeping a powerful sentinel within the base, but it was more likely that Eggman just wanted to taunt Sonic by using her.  
  
It pressed its assault, as she sidestepped it, slashing the sword across its back. As it turned toward her, she spied a gap in its plating, and buried the sword inside. Mecha Sonic let out a mechanical growl, as it folded its missile launcher into place once more, aiming it at Sally’s feet.  
  
The missile speared into the ground, exploding and hurling both robots apart from each other. Mecha Sonic landed on its feet, but Sally landed hard, forcing herself to stand as her opponent stalked toward her.  
  
Bringing her cannon arm up, she opened fire, shooting the larger robot in the chest. It paused, the beam holding it back for a moment, before it forced itself forward. The delay was enough for Sally to stand upright, however, and she moved to strike at the damaged area of its shoulder once again.  
  
Mecha Sonic’s hand caught the blade, and even with the boosted power, the armour on its palm held firm. Sally tried to wrench the sword free, but it wouldn’t budge. Its grip tightening, the cobalt droid shattered the weapon, leaving her with nothing but her guns and her fists.  
  
The cannon in her right arm locked into place, and she lifted off from the ground, firing a sustained beam from both arms into Mecha Sonic. Its arms crossed in front of it, planting one leg behind it to brace, shielding itself from the brunt of the blast.   
  
In an instant, it dodged to the side, leaping into the air and curling into its shell once more, diving toward her. Sally aimed the cannons at it, opening fire once again, but her beams deflected harmlessly off of the armoured ball, not even slowing its flight as it crashed into her, grinding against her plating as it bulled her across the room and rammed her into the wall, rebounding away to let her collapse to the ground.  
  
Sally groaned, straining to rise from her position, warning lights flashing across her HUD, Nicole pleading with her to get up and flee, but her body refused to obey her. Something had been jarred loose, and her systems were no longer responding.  
  
Mecha Sonic loomed over her, staring down at her, no emotion readable in its visor. It aimed the missile launcher at her head once more, when a shockwave rippled out from the wreckage in the centre of the chamber. It turned, just as a blue light flooded out from the ruined core.  
  
  
For a moment after touching the Emerald, the wrecked generator was quiet. Then, power exploded from the Emerald, energy streaming out from between Emerl’s fingers, enveloping her in a cyan aura. Automatically, her chestplate opened, exposing her core, as the Emerald almost flowed into the depths of her chest cavity, before the armour slammed shut again, the aura flaring up more violently.  
  
Her eyes widened, but all she could see was the Emerald itself, floating in front of her, before it was washed away by fire. She blinked- That was odd, she didn’t have eyelids, how was she blinking? But as her eyes opened again, she found herself above a burning city.  
  
Black towers and pyramids stretched as far as her eyes could see, flames consuming them, people fleeing, a flash of red metal streaking toward her. Her hand reached out, for a moment it looked wrong, too thin, without the joints visible, but she blinked again and it looked normal.  
  
“Wh-what..? What the hell…?” She gripped her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut, and shook her head. The screams stopped, the heat of the flames faded, and she felt her feet touching the floor once again.   
  
She was back in the Death Egg, wreathed in a warming blue glow. The Emerald was no longer in her hand, but she felt its power within her, flooding her, filling her… making her stronger.  
  
Stepping out of the rubble, all three of her optics fixed on Mecha Sonic. She slammed her fist against her open palm once more, popping her neck as it turned away from Sally, squaring off against her.  
  
“Alright, let’s try this again.”


	5. A Real Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bolstered by the power of the Chaos Emerald, Emerl squares off with Mecha Sonic once again. As the battle draws to a close, Sally faces the moment of truth: Can she return to normal, or will she be a robot forever?

**Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum  
  
Chapter 5 of 5: A Real Life**  
  
  
Emerl’s engines roared into life, lifting her from the ground and driving her straight toward Mecha Sonic.  
  
“`Emerl, stop!`” Sally called out, watching her draw her fist back for a punch, even as Mecha Sonic braced itself for the impact. “`You need to come at it from a different angle, it’s too-`”  
  
Before she could finish her sentence, Emerl’s fist slammed into Mecha Sonic’s chestplate, lifting the larger robot’s feet from the floor and launching it away, spiralling end over end until it crashed into the wall, bouncing off and crashing to the ground.   
  
“`- strong?`”  
  
“Oh yeah, this feels  _good!_ ” She landed, rubbing her fist as she crouched beside Sally’s inert form. “You alright?”  
  
“`I… I think I’m running out of energy. Can you give me another charge?`” She asked. Emerl nodded, opening the back panel on the ring matrix, flooding it with another burst of Chaos Energy.   
  
“That should cover it… I’d advise getting the others to safety.” The Gizoid suggested, helping the Robian stand.  
  
“`Are you sure? That thing was beating both of us, can you really do it alone?`”  
  
“Yeah, I’ve got this.”  
  
“`Alright then… but you’d best let me know if you need backup.`” She looked up at the taller machine.  
  
“Will do.”  
  
  
Standing upright, Mecha Sonic shook its head, visor fixing on Emerl’s advancing form, Sally retreating toward the other injured Freedom Fighters. Growling, it aimed its missile launcher toward the Robian, the rocket streaking out from the tube.  
  
In a flash, Emerl appeared in its path, snagging the missile out of the air, spinning and lobbing the it back toward the source. Mecha Sonic curled into its shell to absorb the explosion, rolling forward, only to collide with Emerl, who had produced similar bladed armour for herself. Grinding against each other, neither could penetrate the other’s shielding, until Emerl boosted herself forward, ramming Mecha Sonic back into the wall.   
  
Both unrolled, the large robot throwing a heavy punch, thudding loudly against Emerl’s raised arms, pushing her back slightly. It fired its boosters, tackling her and lifting her away from the ground. She flashed again, disappearing from its arms, diving foot-first into its back, forcing it back to the floor. She sprang away from it, landing gracefully between it and her comrades. Flexing her limbs, she crouched down, her thrusters warming up. She launched herself back into the fray as Mecha Sonic stood up, crossing her arms in front of her as she closed in.  
  
Swinging her arms back out, delivering a brutal cross-chop to its armour, buckling its chestplate it, shattering the glowing bar around its midsection. It staggered, barely managing to meet her oncoming punch with one of its own, but her strength now more than equalled its own, the servos in its fingers fracturing under the stress.   
  
Another fist already incoming from the opposite side, Mecha Sonic brought its arms up to shield itself as the punches increased in pace, rapidly becoming a barrage of continuous blows. To an outsider, Emerl’s attacks looked more speedy and powerful than any variety of skilled, and an ordinary organic would not have been able to keep up with the speed of her arms at all, but Mecha Sonic saw that each of them, each individual punch, was focused, precise, targeted to pummel a joint, or a flaw in its armour, or even just around its defences to strike at its head.  
  
Out of options, with one of its hands now stuck as a fist, Mecha Sonic diverted as much power as it could toward the cannon contained within its chest. The battered armour plating opened once again, the hinge catching somewhat as it built up its second blast.   
  
Emerl’s assault didn’t cease, not even for a second, forcing Mecha Sonic to take a step back, then another. Finally, it spread its arms wide, exposing the blazing chamber of the cannon, about to fire. In that moment, the Gizoid’s fist lashed out and collided with its visor, cracking it in the direct centre and jolting the taller bot’s head back. It stumbled away from her, before focusing its flickering visor on her once more and opening fire.  
  
To Mecha Sonic’s shock, Emerl responded in kind. Her chestplate opened, exposing an already-charged cannon identical to its own, a blast of bright blue Chaos exploding out to meet its own red beam. She allowed the recoil of her own blast to shunt her backwards, widening the gap between them before she planted her feet, bracing to focus the full force of her attack against its own.  
  
The two beams surged against each other, energy arcing out from each of them, streaming across the room and tearing up the floor and walls, more and more power bursting from the clash between the two attacks, until finally, it exploded, throwing both of them back. Mecha Sonic met the wall quickly, steadying itself, while Emerl had further to fly, managing to keep herself mostly on the floor.   
  
Spotting the vague shape of her opponent through the smoke, Emerl took to the air, she formed the missile launchers over her shoulders once more, firing them down toward it. Mecha Sonic jumped over the explosion, racing upwards to meet her. It threw a desperate punch at her, and she casually sidestepped it, fingers wrapping around its wrist and locking tightly.  
  
Spinning in place, she dragged Mecha Sonic with her, building up her momentum before releasing it, bodily throwing it straight down into the floor. The ground crumpled beneath the impact, plates of steel ripped up as Mecha Sonic struck it, lying prone in the centre of the crater. As it tried to pry itself free, Emerl dropped from the air, chainblade appearing on her right arm in a flash of cyan. She slammed down, blades piercing through its mangled armour, impaling Mecha Sonic clean through the torso.  
  
For a moment, it jolted, struggling against the twin swords as their spinning edges carved into its body. Then, the flickering visor went dark, and Mecha Sonic’s body sagged, falling limp and silent. Emerl tore her weapon from its ruined frame, and stood back, folding her blades away once more and turning toward the exit, where Sally had taken their injured friends.   
  
Most of them were upright again now, and watching her approach with a mixture of confusion and wariness. She soon understood why, once Nicole returned to her systems and immediately had questions.  
  
“How did you do that? You were losing just as much as the rest of us at first, and then you beat it almost single-handedly!” She asked.  
  
“Easy, easy. When it threw me into the generator, I found the Emerald. I picked it up, and I think I absorbed it. Gave me a hell of a boost and that’s how I kicked its butt. Added, I needed to get a good look at its powers and moves and stuff to copy them. On top of that, I noticed that its energy levels began to drop off a bit more quickly than I expected once it started to actually fight everyone. Based on that, it made more sense to pace myself a little and soak up some hits before giving it a big burst when it started to flag. The Emerald helped with that, of course,” She explained, speaking loud enough for the others to hear.  
  
“Oh, well… alright then. Could you at least have told us?”  
  
“Sorry, I can’t talk all that well while I’m fighting. I have a bit of a one-track mind,” She shrugged. “Though to be fair, I did feel some sort of clarity once I really got going. I’ll have to investigate that…” She mused, drawing level with the others. “Everybody okay?”  
  
“Yeah, mostly,” Tails groaned. “That thing hit like a truck.”  
  
“I’ve never seen an Eggman bot fight that hard before,” Sonic added, leaning against the wall. He seemed to have taken the worst of it, along with Amy. “What was it even made of?”  
  
“I’m not sure. I think it’s the same stuff as the shield from the Egg Beaters…” Tails mused. “I guess there isn’t a lot of it, or he’d use it a lot more.”   
  
“Well, maybe he would, or he could just keep not doing that to keep his weird ‘game’ going. He is rather stupid like that,” Amy shrugged, using her hammer to support herself.  
  
“Maybe, maybe. Still, at least we’re done,” Silver sighed. “With Sally freed from Eggman’s control, the threat to the future should be ended. Thank you for your help.”  
  
“We owe you our thanks too, Silver. Without your help, I’m not sure if we could’ve saved her,” Tails replied.  
  
“So, back to the base?” Emerl asked. “We can get set up and turn Sally back to normal by daybreak!”  
  
“No, the main lab there is gone, and the city is still in Naugus’ claws. If we take Sal back there, he’ll do what he did to Bunnie and deroboticize her as a PR stunt,” Sonic shook his head, folding his arms.  
  
“His approval ratings have been sagging lately, he’s probably hoping for something like that to let him boost his support,” Nicole nodded.  
  
“On top of that, he clearly wasn’t sure  _how_  he did that to Bunnie. The last thing we want is him to screw up and make Sally’s situation even worse,” Tails added grimly, then snapped his fingers, stepping away from the wall. “We’ll take her to my lab in the ruins, and then bring Rotor and Uncle Chuck to meet us. Sally will be normal again before Naugus even knows she’s back.”  
  
“I, uh, don’t know where that is,” Emerl slouched slightly.  
  
“It’s alright, I can show you,” Nicole smiled. “I’ll transfer the data while we head outside.”  
  
  
***  
  
Once the rag-tag party had warped themselves to the ruins, and Emerl had made a quick return trip to recover the downed Tornado, they convened in Tails’ workshop. Sally had perched herself on the workbench, Sonic standing next to her, holding her hand. Amy and Silver had taken two of the chairs, while Emerl leaned against the wall.  
  
Tails emerged from one of the side rooms, dusting his hands off.   
  
“Alright, I found the old Deroboticizer, but it’s not in great shape. So I’ll definitely need some backup on that front. Sonic, Emerl, can you two go get Rotor and Uncle Chuck?”  
  
“Sure thing, bud,” Sonic nodded.  
  
“Yeah, I can get us there and back in no time,” Emerl straightened.  
  
“Alright then, I’ll get to work on reinstalling Sally’s core. I should be done by the time you get back,” He smiled. “I’ll need you with me after that, Emerl. Since you absorbed the Emerald, we’ll have to set up a direct power transfer from you to Sally’s repair systems.”  
  
“Won’t be a problem.”  
  
“`If I can interrupt…`” Sally spoke up. “`I think you should wait until morning. I appreciate that you want to turn me back to normal as quickly as possible, I really do… but, you are all exhausted. With the exception of Nicole and Emerl, you all need to sleep. Badly.`”  
  
“But Sally-”  
  
“`Tails, I’ll be fine for just a day longer. Emerl will be here to give me another charge if I need it, so I’m not going to expire in the night. And besides, I don’t exactly want you performing what amounts to a heart transplant on me while you’re barely awake,`” She cut in, effectively putting her foot down.  
  
“... Yeah, that’s a good point,” He sighed, blushing slightly. “I didn’t think of it like that… Alright, I suppose we should turn in for the night, then.”  
  
“Yeah, sounds good,” Sonic nodded.  
  
“`You’ve all more than earned it,`” She smiled at them.  
  
  
Gradually, the group began to disperse, Amy, Silver, and then Tails heading upstairs to sleep. The workshop’s living space had a number of guest rooms, since the Freedom Fighters used it as a secondary base, so there was more than enough space for them all. Only Sonic remained up with the three machines, even though he looked even less awake than the already-resting trio.  
  
“`Sonic, you really should sleep as well…`” Sally looked at him, concern showing even through her mostly-solid face.  
  
“I will, Sal… I just… I wanna talk to you before I go. I’ve got some stuff that needs to be said,” He replied, eyes downcast.  
  
“`Alright. Let’s take a step outside, then.`”   
  
  
Stepping out into the cool night air, the duo walked to the edge of the hill. Sonic sat himself down, taking a deep breath of the sea breeze, blowing in from the ocean. Sally smiled down at him, before awkwardly lowering herself to sit beside him, leaning back on her arms.  
  
“`It’s been too long since we were able to do this. Far too long,`” She sighed.  
  
“You’re taking this really well, Sal. The whole ‘months spent as a robot slave’ thing,” He glanced at her.  
  
“`That’s the one upshot of being conscious throughout the whole thing. I’ve had a lot of time to process things, enough to come to terms with what has happened to me. It wasn’t always like this. I fell apart pretty badly during the modification, and… I can’t imagine I’ll be getting over that any time soon. But as time wore on, I started to regain myself and fight back. It wasn’t easy, none of it’s easy… but I survived. I’m going to be my normal self again.`”  
  
“I guess.” He sighed, placing his hand on hers.   
  
“`So, what did you want to say?`” Sally asked, turning to look at him fully.  
  
“Sal, I’m… Sorry.”  
  
“`Sorry? What for?`”  
  
“For not saving you faster! For not stopping the whole weaponizing thing from happening! For not being able to get you back for three months!” He yelled, tears filling his eyes.  
  
“`Sonic, you don’t need to apologise for that. You did the best you could,`” Sally gently grabbed his shoulder, smiling at him.  
  
“But it wasn’t good enough!” He retorted. “ _I_  wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t stop our friends from falling apart. I couldn’t save Antoine. I couldn’t stop Bunnie from leaving. I couldn’t help your family, or stop Naugus from taking over. I couldn’t stop him from kicking Nicole out. I couldn’t even keep myself focused on you, I was a terrible leader without you there, and I kept letting everything distract me. I was trying to save everyone, and in the end, I couldn’t save  _anyone._  Not even you. I would’ve lost you again today if Emerl hadn’t done basically everything. She got Nicole into your head, she took down the Egg Beater, and she defeated Mecha-me… I didn’t do enough...”  
  
Sally’s heart sank, as she watched Sonic let it all out. She threw her arms around him, hugging him as gently as she possibly could. She brushed her metal lips against his cheek as she pulled him in.  
  
“`You can’t blame yourself for what happened, Sonic. Trust me, I’ve been there… I know that you would’ve found a way to save me, and even if your plan didn’t work out, it still stopped Eggman from making anything worse. Do you know why he was running away from you?`” Sally paused, and when Sonic didn’t respond, she continued. “`He was running because the Death Egg was damaged when I had Nicole invert the beam of the World Roboticizer. He had to try and repair it, but every time he set it down to start working, you were there, and he had to run. You saved Lupe and Hathor from sharing my fate, or worse, and Nicole would never have even had the opportunity to bring Emerl to our rescue if you hadn’t captured me and called her. You say you’re a bad leader, but I don’t think you are. You had to deal with one of the worst possible situations anyone could ever face on your first outing as an independent leader. I would’ve struggled to make something good out of what you had to face, and I’ve been doing this for years.`”  
  
“Sal…”  
  
“`Sonic, let me give you some advice, from one leader to another. When you’re in charge, it’s easy to feel as though you have to shoulder all of the weight. Like every difficult decision is yours and yours alone, and the consequences of those decisions are entirely on your back. I know I felt that way for the longest time, and I couldn’t take it. Not forever. Eventually, I cracked, but by that point it was more of a breakdown than anything else. I’m sure you remember…`” Sally gently touched Sonic’s cheek.  
  
“Yeah, it’s hard to forget, but we moved past that…”  
  
“`Indeed… But my point is that no-one can blame you for the direction things went. You tried your hardest, and that’s what counts. And even if you ultimately didn’t succeed alone, we’re both here, we’re all okay. And when you only had Tails and Amy by your side… you did a good job, Sonic.`”  
  
Finally, Sonic returned the hug, pulling himself closer. Sally leaned her head against his shoulder, and he rested his head against hers.  
  
“I love you,” He said. “I really don’t say it enough, but it’s true.”  
  
“`I love you too, Sonic.`”  
  
  
***  
  
On the roof of the workshop itself, Emerl perched, staring out toward the ruins. Her eyes flicked over to the young couple for a moment, but she didn’t tune her audio sensors in to hear what they were saying, and she opted to pay them little mind. She had other things to concern herself with.  
  
“Something the matter?”  
  
She flinched, stumbling, just managing to catch herself before she tipped over the edge, and looked around to see Nicole giggling at the sight.   
  
“Such grace in battle, yet so clumsy on a roof!” The lynx laughed, floating beside her shoulder. For a moment, she wanted to snap back, but after seeing how stressed and upset she had been earlier, seeing the AI smiling and laughing, even if it was at her expense, felt good.  
  
“Y-you startled me, is all,” She mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. “I was kinda lost in thought.”  
  
“Oh really? What about?” Nicole asked, calming herself. Emerl shrugged, and looked back out toward the ruins again, fixing on the ancient stone tower, rising up above the treeline.  
  
“I dunno… It’s just… I feel like I’ve been here before. And I know I haven’t… but… It’s familiar. It’s real familiar…” Emerl sighed, sitting herself down on the roof tiles.  
  
“Hm… when we met, you were speaking Nocturnian… and the Fourth Great Civilization are theorized to have been in conflict with the Knuckle Tribe of Echidna… the ruins here were once their capital city. Maybe you have been here, and you forgot…”  
  
“Yeah, maybe…”  
  
***  
  
The following morning, Sonic was up early. He still looked tired, dark circles under his eyes as he approached Emerl and Nicole.  
  
“I wanna get Uncle Chuck and Rote before they go to work. It’ll be a lot easier to get ‘em from home, rather than you warping in right in front of Naugus. We don’t want him to know what’s going on, after all,” He said.  
  
“Sure thing, let’s get going.” Emerl nodded.  
  
“Did you sleep alright, Sonic?” Nicole asked.  
  
“Not really. Tried, but it was hard. I kept worrying about Sal too much…” He admitted.  
  
“That’s understandable…” Nicole nodded.  
  
“Yeah… this is gonna work, right? You’re sure of that?”  
  
“Yes, I am,” She confirmed. “You need not worry. Sally will be alright.”  
  
“Alright, then. You’ve not steered us wrong before,” He grinned. “Ready, Emerl?”  
  
“Sure, Nicole just showed me where to go.”  
  
***  
  
They arrived in Rotor’s home first. The walrus had just finished breakfast, and was rather surprised to find the two appearing in his home.  
  
“Sonic!? What are you- Wait, where did you find a Gizoid!?” He jumped back at the sight.  
  
“Hey Rote. This is Emerl, Nicole found her below Knothole, Tails said working on her was kind of a Brain Trust thing,” Sonic replied.  
  
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Emerl waved.  
  
“Huh, I guess Fiona was overreacting about the danger…” Rotor mused. “So, why the sudden visit? I mean, it’s great to see you again, Sonic, and it’s good to meet you, Emerl, but wouldn’t the door have been easier?”  
  
“We’re being sneaky,” Emerl beamed.   
  
“Yeah. The great news is that we got Sally back-”  
  
“You did!? Oh, that’s wonderful!” He grinned.  
  
“Yeah. The less-great news is that, thanks to the mods Eggman made, we’re going to have to make some complex repairs to properly bring her back to normal. We’ve got a plan, but we’re gonna need to warp you and Unc to Tails’ lab in the ruins. We can’t let Naugus know that we saved her until she’s organic again,” Sonic explained.  
  
“Alright, that makes sense,” Rotor nodded.  
  
“Let’s go, then,” Emerl reached out for the two.  
  
***  
  
The trio arrived in the hedgehog residence seconds later, warping into an empty hallway.  
  
“I’m hoooome!” Sonic called out. “Also, I brought Rotor and a new friend!”  
  
“You might want to step back from Sonic,” Rotor whispered to Emerl. She did so, tilting her head quizzically at him.  
  
“Okay, but wh-” She asked, only to be cut off as the blue hero was mobbed by a trio of older hedgehogs, one of them clearly a Robian. “Oh, that’s why.”  
  
  
“Welcome home, Sonic!” Bernadette beamed, hugging him tightly.  
  
“Ow, careful, I took a lotta hits yesterday, some of it still hurts a bit!”  
  
“Sorry, sorry,” She eased up. “We weren’t expecting you back. I thought Nicole would’ve at least told us you were coming.”  
  
“`Is everything alright?`” Jules asked.  
  
“Better than alright, actually. We got Sal back, thanks to Nicole and our new friend,” Sonic smiled, gesturing to Emerl.  
  
“Oh, fantastic! And thank you, er…” The family paused, looking up at the armoured figure. She stepped a little closer, offering a mock bow.  
  
“Emerl, at your service. Nicole woke me up.”  
  
“The Gizoid from the lab…” Charles looked her up and down. “Well, she seems a lot less dangerous than we were warned about.”  
  
“I dunno about that, you should see her fight. I’m real glad she’s on our side,” Sonic smirked. “So she  _is_  dangerous, but only to the bad guys.”  
  
“I dunno, I almost fell off Tails’ roof last night,” She shrugged. “But I suppose I do fight pretty well.”  
  
  
“`So, Sally is back with you, but why the cloak-and-dagger, son?`” Jules asked.  
  
“Well, we don’t want Naugus to know about it until she’s flesh and blood again. Last thing we need is him trying to deroboticize her to boost his image and screwing it up, considering he doesn’t know how he did it,” Sonic explained. “Tails asked that we fetch Rote and Uncle Chuck to help with the Deroboticizer, while he and Nicole take care of repairs. So, we’re gonna warp back to the Ruins, fix Sal up, and by the time Naugus knows what hit him, it’ll be too late for him to do anything about it!”  
  
“`Naugus offered the same deroboticization to me… but I don’t trust that monster as far as I can throw him, and I shan’t make deals with anyone that sought to harm my family.`” His father mused.  
  
“Yeah, yeah…” Sonic sighed.   
  
“Wait, why can’t you be turned back?” Emerl asked. “Uh, forgive me for intruding, if that’s private, but, um…”  
  
“`No, no, it’s fine. I was the first Robian, back when the Roboticizer was a tool for prolonging the lives of injured people. Unfortunately, my injury was too severe… if I am turned back to normal, I will die. And while more advanced Roboticizers could potentially fix the damage, this old body is not exactly compatible with them… I’m stuck like this. And while I could get a new body, something more agile and lifelike, I don’t want to throw this one away. Knowing my luck, a functioning cure would be found the day after,`” Jules explained, a hint of bitter mirth in his voice as he finished.  
  
“Oh… I’m sorry.” Emerl looked down.  
  
“It’s not your fault, Emerl,” Sonic replied.   
  
“I know, but still…”  
  
“`Sonic’s right. You can’t be blamed for your curiosity. Now, I believe you have work to do.`”   
  
“Right, right. Fixing Sally. We should get going with that,” Sonic snapped his fingers.   
  
“Looks like I’m going to be late for work today,” Charles gave an exaggerated sigh, evidently faking his distress.  
  
“We’ll call in sick for you,” Bernie smiled, nudging her brother-in-law.  
  
***  
  
When the four returned to Tails’ lab, they found the lab mostly empty. Nicole appeared briefly beside Emerl’s shoulder in miniature avatar form.  
  
“Rotor, Sir Charles, wonderful to see you again. Tails and I are already working on Sally in the smaller lab. The deroboticizer is already in the workshop itself, so you’ll be able to find it easily enough. Amy and Silver are still asleep,” She explained, before disappearing again.  
  
“Guess she’s busy,” Sonic shrugged.   
  
“Sounds like,” Rotor nodded, turning to the older hedgehog “I guess we should go get started.”  
  
“Agreed,” Charles nodded.  
  
***  
  
Sonic had always hated waiting. At least, he hated waiting for information from the labs. While he wasn’t as impatient as he was apparently infamous for, at least, not anymore, waiting for any length of time for updates on Sally’s progress could best be described as  _torturous._  
  
As the morning progressed, little information was presented, however. At one point, Uncle Chuck had reappeared from the workshop and informed him that they had the Deroboticizer running, but that didn’t tell him anything about Sally herself. She was the important aspect in their current situation.  
  
As he thought about it, Sonic came to the conclusion that Sally being deroboticized mattered significantly less to him than her safety did. It was Tails and Nicole that he needed to hear from. At one point, Emerl disappeared into their room, so presumably they were getting ready to try and undo Eggman’s modifications, but he had seen how extensive they were, just from the outside, and knew that would be the single hardest part of the entire process.  
  
Shortly after Emerl went into the lab, Amy emerged from one of the guest rooms and made her way downstairs for breakfast. She looked like she’d at least slept better than he had, but she was still up surprisingly early for someone as tired as she had been the day before. In truth, none of the trio had slept all that well during their pursuit of the Death Egg, and they all really needed to catch up on rest. Yet, here they all were, awake.  
  
“Morning, Sonic,” The pink hedgehog mumbled sleepily, dropping two slices of bread into the toaster. “You sleep alright?”  
  
“Nope. Barely got any,” He shook his head, leaning against the wall. She looked up at him, concerned, but didn’t ask why. The answer to that was obvious enough.  
  
“Any news on Sally?” The younger hedgehog asked.  
  
“Not really. Emerl went in to help with the repairs. The Deroboticizer’s working again, Unc and Rote are just configuring it for her now. Other than that, nothing. It’s killing me.”  
  
“Right…” Amy nodded. “Sonic?”  
  
“Yeah?”   
  
“You… you really do love her, don’t you?”  
  
  
Sonic paused. The question wasn’t one he’d really expected to hear from Amy. She wasn’t exactly known for being the most perceptive of people. He especially wasn’t expecting to hear it right then and there. Still, it was something that would need to be discussed eventually. No point trying to dodge it now.  
  
“I… yeah. Yeah, I do,” He nodded. Looking up, he saw his friend’s eyes watering, her lip quivering. “Amy…”  
  
She sniffed, shaking her head, and smiled. It looked forced. “You don’t need to apologise. There’s nothing to apologise for, you haven’t done anything wrong.”  
  
“Yeah, well, you’re hurt, and you know I can’t stand hurting people,” He replied, walking over to the counter. The toaster popped back up, and Amy removed her breakfast, putting it on a plate and grabbing the butter dish. “I should’ve told you sooner, instead of dragging it out longer.”  
  
“You couldn’t exactly bring it up before, could you? When we were all younger and didn’t really know what we wanted,” Amy sat down, beginning to eat.  
  
“I suppose, but to be fair, you always came across as knowing exactly what you wanted,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“Sonic, I didn’t even know the real you for the longest time. There was a point where I got to know who you really were and I had to re-evaluate what I thought about my feelings. I was just as confused as everybody else.”  
  
“Huh… I didn’t realise…” He paused.   
  
“It’s alright. If it helps, this isn’t really much of a surprise to me. I kinda thought it was going to go this way for a long time. I didn’t really want to believe it, but… it was always pretty obvious that this was the direction things were going to go,” She looked up, smiling more genuinely as she wiped her eyes. “You two were always good together.”  
  
“Thanks,” Sonic grinned. “And for what it’s worth, you’ll always be a great friend, Ames.”  
  
“Well, I do my best,” She returned the grin.  
  
***  
  
Silver appeared shortly after that. He looked a lot better rested than either of them, which made sense. He wasn’t as over-stressed as the trio of Freedom Fighters, and he hadn’t been fighting as much as they had. Filling him in on the details didn’t take as much time as Sonic had hoped, and once that was done, it was back to waiting. With the two other hedgehogs around, he at least had someone to make small talk with, but he didn’t find the prospect particularly appealing. Just a distraction.  
  
What if something had gone wrong? What if they couldn’t fix her? What if overcharging her self-repair system only caused more damage? What if Eggman had hidden one last cruel trap in her body, and she was gone?  
  
The questions had been circulating in his brain for nearly an hour when the door to Tails’ lab finally opened, and the young fox stepped out, taking a pair of goggles off of his face and wiping his forehead with a towel. Emerl followed, Nicole sitting on her shoulder, and finally, Sally walked behind them both, her body restored to the same state it had been in when she first became Mecha Sally.  
  
Immediately, he raced over, hugging her, and she quickly returned the gesture.  
  
“Are you alright? Did it work? Can they change you back?”  
  
“`Yes, yes, and yes.`” Sally replied, smiling.  
  
“Oh thank Chaos,” He breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  
  
“He’s been going stir-crazy the whole morning,” Amy announced as she walked over. She smirked a little as Sonic’s cheeks turned scarlet. “Still, it really is good to hear that you’ll be okay again. We’ve all been worried.”  
  
“`Thank you, Amy.`”   
  
“How are you feeling, Sal?” Sonic asked.  
  
“`I feel better already. Not as good as my normal body, but at least this shape feels almost like myself, just heavier and colder. And it’s good to have a full-sized brain again,`” The Robian replied, flexing her restored body.   
  
“I’m not surprised it feels better, that is a significantly better body than the last one,” Emerl added. “I mean, not for combat, but everything is working like it should be, rather than sloppily modified to force it into use as something it isn’t meant to be.”  
  
“`Yes, that’s true,`” Sally nodded. “`Anyway, is the Deroboticizer ready?`”  
  
“Should be. They were just calibrating it, and while that takes time, we should be good to go,” Nicole replied.  
  
“`Well, no sense in waiting, then. Let’s end this waking nightmare.`”  
  
The group headed through to the workshop itself, where Rotor and Charles sat with mugs of coffee, beside the Deroboticizer, which hummed quietly, waiting for its patient’s arrival. Rotor noticed them first, setting his drink down as he stood up, rushing over.  
  
“Sally!” He beamed, hugging her. “I didn’t realise you were actually up and about, I thought you were just inactive and waiting for the transformation!”  
  
“`Hello, Rotor. It’s good to see you again. You too, Sir Charles,`” She smiled.   
  
“It’s been too long, your highness,” The older hedgehog bowed.  
  
“`As for my mental state, Nicole released me from Eggman’s mind control yesterday. I’ve been active most of that time, though I did power down over the night,`” Sally replied.   
  
“Well, let’s get you back to normal, then,” Rotor said, releasing her and walking back over to the machine. Pressing a few buttons on the control panel, he opened the door. “Alright, it’s ready.”  
  
“`Thank you, Rotor,`” Sally hugged Sonic once more, then walked into the Deroboticizer. There was a small chair inside, and she took her seat as the door closed in front of her. Outside sounds were muffled by the thick glass, but she was able to see the two older scientists operating the controls, before pulling a large lever on the side of the panel.  
  
  
The low hum of the Deroboticizer grew louder and louder, the pitch rising at the same time. Above her head, a blue aura began to shine, bright light filling the cylinder. She twinged, feeling the energies of the machine flooding into her body.  
  
It felt warm and comforting, and she looked down at her hands, just in time to see the metal begin to retreat from her body. It looked almost as if it was melting away, flesh and blood taking its place. She closed her eyes, smiling as the feeling spread throughout her body, washing away the cold numbness of her robotic form.  
  
She gasped as she took in air for the first time in far too long, letting out a long-needed sigh as she felt her pulse return, a little too fast at first, before it began to settle. She felt a dampness on her cheeks as, finally, it was over. She was herself again.  
  
The door opened with a hiss, and she stepped forward, stumbling on unsteady legs. She technically hadn’t used the muscles in them for months, nor had she eaten. Fortunately, before she could fall, Sonic was here, gently supporting her.   
  
Feeling his fingers on her shoulder, Sally threw herself into his arms, as the rest of their friends crowded around them both. Sonic held her close, kissing her gently as he wiped away her tears.   
  
“It’s okay, Sal. You’re home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So intended to post this a chapter per week until I caught up with my DA uploads, which are currently at Chapter 13. However, I didn't like the idea of waiting for that long, or having the two be so wildly out of sync, so I opted to instead get all of the existing chapters up over the course of this week, and then post chapters to here and to DA at the same time in future.
> 
> Arc 2, Reunions, will be posted on Tuesday, Arc 3, Rivalries, will go up on Wednesday, and Chapter 13 will be posted as the first part of Arc 4 on Thursday, ahead of Chapter 14's Friday upload. I'm currently aiming for weekly updates, as long as I can keep a good pace with writing future ones.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the rest of this series. 
> 
> \- Arcan


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